JflRC  K. 
HBRHRY  FttliD 


LIVE  ISSUES  IN 
CLASSICAL  STUDY 


BY 
KARL  POMEROY  HARRINGTON 


BOSTON  AND  LONDON 

GINN  AND  COMPANY,  PUBLISHERS 

1910 


COPYRIGHT,  1910,  BY  KARL  POMEROY  HARRINGTON 

ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 

910.11 


gfte 


GINN  AND  COMPANY  •  PRO 
PRIETORS  •  BOSTON  •  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

In  an  age  of  educational  unrest  the  present  moment  is 
vitally  concerned  with  the  present  and  future  status  of  the 
classics.  Classical  Associations  are  springing  up  every- 
where. Curricula  are  being  made  and  unmade.  German 
and  English  scholars  are  urging  the  broadening  of  the 
scope  of  Greek  and  Latin  reading.  Great  metropolitan 
journals  are  protesting  against  discrimination  by  American 
colleges  in  the  matter  of  material  equipment  to  the  dis- 
advantage of  the  classics.  Educational  meetings  are  seri- 
ously discussing  defects  in  classical  teaching.  If  the  essays 
in  this  little  volume  should  contribute  at  all  to  the  ultimate 
solution  of  some  of  these  great  problems,  the  author's 
modest  hope  would  be  fully  realized. 

Of  the  four  essays  here  published,  the  second  and  third, 
previously  printed  respectively  in  the  Southern  Methodist 
Review  and  the  Classical  Weekly,  have  been  revised  and 
are  here  reproduced  in  the  hope  that  thus  they  may  reach 
a  somewhat  larger  public. 

KARL  POMEROY  HARRINGTON 

MlDDLETOWN,    CONNECTICUT 


219167 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 3 

A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS 37 

THE  "LATINITY"  FETISH 55 

THE  USE  OF  TRANSLATIONS                                                  ,  66 


LIVE  ISSUES  IN 
CLASSICAL  STUDY 


DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

"  What  are  you  eating,  my  child  ? "  said  a  lady  to  her 
little  daughter,  who  came  into  the  room  visibly  munching 
something. 

"  Cheese,"  was  the  smiling  answer. 

"  Where  did  you  get  the  cheese  ?  "  inquired  her  mother. 

"  In  the  mousetrap,"  was  the  frank  response. 

"Why !  what  will  those  poor  little  mice  say  when  they 
come  and  find  all  their  nice  cheese  gone  ?  " 

"  There  were  two  there  just  now,  when  I  took  it,  and 
they  did  n't  say  a  single  word  !  " 

There  is  no  denying  the  fact  that  many  people  have 
studied  the  classics  for  a  considerable  length  of  time,  and 
brought  away  from  their  study  no  more  vital  message  than 
the  child  did  from  the  dead  mice.  To  such  students  the 
classics  were  merely  dead,  very  dead,  languages,  —  dead, 
with  the  dust  of  centuries  heaped  upon  them.  There  was 
no  word  of  life  spoken  by  these  musty  and  crumbling 
corpses,  so  far  as  their  ears  could  detect.  Yes,  the  classics 
were  a  veritable  valley  of  dry  bones,  —  bones  of  diphthongs 
and  hidden  quantities,  bones  of  case  endings  and  verbal 
inflections,  bones  of  the  tweedledum  and  tweedledee  of 
absolute  and  relative  temporal  clauses,  hideous  great  bones 
of  indirect  discourse,  meaningless  bones  of  ablative  abso- 
lutes, monotonous  bones  of  parasangs  and  what  Caesar 
did,  —  all  mingled  with  the  bleaching  bones  of  the  hope- 
less victims  of  pedagogical  severity,  the  victims  that  had 

3 


4  DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

perished  at  examination  times  in  the  vain  attempt  to 
classify  these  bones  and  assign  them  correctly  to  the  pre- 
historic monstrosities  to  which  they  once  belonged ;  and 
the  idea  that  any  breath  of  modern,  up-to-date  life  could 
ever  have  been  clothed  upon  this  bone  yard  seemed  as 
impossible  as  did  the  miracle  foretold  to  the  Hebrew 
prophet  of  old  in  answer  to  the  query,  "  Can  these  dry 
bones  live  ? " 

That  a  similar  sentiment  is  quite  common  among  those 
that  have  never  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  classics  at 
all  goes  without  saying.  And  in  our  day  and  generation, 
when  the  prevailing  criterion  for  estimating  the  importance 
of  a  rule  for  the  dative  case  is  its  potential  earning  power, 
expressed  in  terms  of  dimes,  cents,  and  mills,  it  is  not 
surprising  if  the  impression  that  the  classics  are  nought 
but  dry  bones  is  somewhat  widespread  in  this  land  of  the 
worship  of  the  almighty-dollar  Moloch. 

The  danger  is  ever  increasing  that  the  typical  Roman 
schoolboy  whom  Horace  describes  as  spending  his  whole 
energy  in  learning  to  divide  the  monetary  unit  of  his  day 
into  a  hundred  parts,  will  be  duplicated  in  the  typical 
American  schoolboy  of  our  times.  Away  from  the  classics 
has  seemed  to  be  the  trend  during  the  last  few  years,  espe- 
cially in  the  older  parts  of  the  country.  Colleges  are  ceasing 
to  require  Greek  for  any  course,  and  some  give  beginning 
courses  in  Greek.  Schools  are  accordingly  ceasing  to  pre- 
pare in  Greek,  and  are  dropping  it  from  their  curriculum. 
The  size  of  freshman  Greek  classes  is  visibly  affected  by 
this  process.  Whether  Latin,  too,  may  be  relegated  to  the 
limbo  of  optional  requirements,  not  merely  for  the  arts 
degree,  but  also  for  admission  to  college  in  any  course, 


DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT  5 

and  whether  colleges  may  come  to  begin  their  Latin 
teaching  with  the  Latin  alphabet,  are  conundrums  calcu- 
lated to  bring  many  a  forefinger  into  titillative  contact 
with  its  owner's  scalp. 

Latin,  to  be  sure,  has  enjoyed,  and  still  enjoys,  a  more 
than  feline  vitality.  Although  technically  more  dead  than 
Greek,  which  is  still  spoken,  and  always  has  been  spoken 
at  Athens,  it  is  practically  for  the  great  world  of  modern 
civilization  a  more  living  force:  through  the  Romance 
languages  and  through  the  large  element  of  the  English  lan- 
guage which  is  really  Latin  without  its  terminations;  as  a 
necessary  basis,  up  to  the  present  time,  of  what  is  generally 
recognized  as  "  liberal "  education ;  as  the  foundation  of 
all  the  most  important  science  and  literature  of  Europe ; 
and  as  a  living,  written  language,  both  technical  and  literary, 
among  all  the  European  nations  during  all  the  twenty 
centuries  since  Cicero. 

But  though,  during  the  earlier  period  of  the  develop- 
ment of  American  education,  Latin  occupied  a  relatively 
high  place  in  popular  esteem,  it  was  never  pursued  here 
with  the  thoroughness  of  Old  World  methods,  and  our 
classical  scholars  have  usually  been  treated  with  a  patron- 
izing smile  by  European  savants.  Now,  more  than  ever, 
with  the  present  tendency  to  exalt  the  eye,  ear,  nose,  arm, 
toe,  above  the  reason,  it  is  not  surprising  to  learn  that  the 
Rhodes  scholars  from  America  have  won  the  high  jump, 
the  broad  jump,  and  the  distance  run,  but  have  not  at 
any  time  come  perilously  near  winning  anything  in  Greek 
or  Latin. 

If  classical  men,  classical  teachers  especially,  are  to  be 
candid,  —  and  who  is  more  candid  than  a  teacher  ?  —  they 


6  DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

will  admit  that  sometimes  there  has  been  cause  for  the 
disfavor  which  Greek  and  Latin  study  have  so  often  met 
in  this  active  civilization  of  ours.  Although  not  prepared 
to  agree  that  training  is  as  valuable  as  education,  or  that 
carpentry  should  count  for  the  arts  degree  as  much  as 
Aristotle,  we  need  not  deny  that  some  classical  teaching 
has  been  dry,  that  some  teachers  have  been  lifeless,  and 
that  too  often  an  intelligent  effort  to  adapt  methods  to  the 
conditions  under  which  we  live  has  been  lacking. 

What  then  is  to  be  our  next  move  ?  Are  we  to  mount 
the  fence  with  mouth  agape  and  gaze  at  the  passing  pro- 
cession ?  Or  shall  we  climb  up  into  close  proximity  to  the 
horns  and  trombones  ?  And,  rather  than  stop  too  long  to 
debate  the  question  whether  it  would  comport  well  with 
our  very  ancient  and  honorable  dignity,  might  it  not  be 
well  even  to  lay  violent  hands  upon  a  piccolo,  or  possibly 
a  bass  drum,  and  proceed  to  announce  audibly  that  we  are 
still  here,  right  in  line,  —  not  back  there,  sitting  on  the 
fence  and  reviling  the  procession  ? 

For  classical  devotees  have  no  occasion  to  sell  their 
birthright,  and  even  teachers  of  the  classics  are  as  yet  un- 
der no  grim  necessity  of  sitting  down  to  die.  Some  of  our 
contemporaries,  indeed,  —  scientists,  or  modern-language 
men,  or  educational  faddists  of  some  type, — would  have  it 
understood  that  the  classics  are  already  dead  and  buried, 
so  far  as  pedagogical  value  or  interest  is  concerned. 
Mr.  Flexner,  in  his  recent  discussion  of  the  American 
college,  sums  up  his  results  after  the  post-mortem  ex- 
amination of  the  supposed  corpse  as  follows :  "  The 
classical  curriculum  went  to  pieces  because  it  had  long 
since  served  its  purpose.  .  .  .  Nothing  tangible  depends 


DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT  7 

on  Greek  and  Latin,  they  lead  nowhere.  .  .  .  Sheer  dis- 
cipline, whether  of  the  classical  or  any  other  kind,  cannot 
give  us  the  type  of  educated  man  that  modern  society 
needs.  I  say  it  leads  nowhere ;  it  does  not  connect 
individuals  with  concrete  opportunities." 

Fortunately,  however,  the  classics  have  a  stronger  hold 
than  those  who  are  running  with  the  new  procession  are 
aware.  Probably  more  boys  and  girls  are  studying  Latin 
to-day  in  America  than  ever  before.  Even  Greek  has  not 
been  entirely  thrown  overboard ;  and  in  the  educational 
prognostications  of  the  near  future  there  may  be  expected, 
"along  about  this  time,"  in  the  phrase  of  the  good  old 
almanacs,  some  reaction  against  the  arrogance  of  those 
who  would  oust  Greek  entirely  from  modern  concern. 
Some  important  readjustments  in  the  amounts,  proportion, 
methods  of  classical  study  in  our  college  curricula  have 
been  made  ;  but  the  classics  have  not  disappeared  from 
college  halls.  The  New  England  colleges  have  refused, 
as  a  rule,  to  remove  them  altogether  from  the  Hst  of  re- 
quired subjects.  At  Princeton  and  Chicago  they  are  on 
the  high  tide  of  enthusiastic  interest  and  attention.  Not 
only  in  such  great  institutions  as  Cornell  and  California^ 
have  they  made  a  conspicuous  place  for  themselves  during 
the  years  against  great  odds,  but  the  great  state  universi- 
ties of  the  Middle  West,  like  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and 
Illinois,  are  devoting  large  sums  of  money  and  much  care 
to  making  their  classical  departments  stand  on  an  even 
footing  with  the  great  technical  schools  by  their  side. 

In  dealing  with  the  questions  of  the  value  and  the  future 
of  the  classics  in  education  we  should  strive  to  attain  the 
aurea  mediocritas  of  that  practical  man  of  the  world, 


8  DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

Horace,  who  at  the  same  time  represents  the  highest  type 
of  literary  culture  of  the  Augustan  age.  Careful  definitions 
are  needed,  not  vague  or  rash  generalizations,  condemna- 
tions, assumptions,  or  prophecies.  On  the  one  hand,  clas- 
sical men  have  welcomed  the  broader  outlook  and  more 
practical  application  of  classical  study  to  twentieth-century 
conditions.  On  the  other,  the  immense  practical  value  of 
classical  study  must  be  acknowledged  by  all  sincere  seekers 
for  truth. 'Trie  preposterous  notion  that  the  classics  "  lead 
nowhere"  should  be  offset  with  a  consideration  of  the 
generally  acknowledged  principle  that  what  is  most  needed 
in  the  training  for  any  business  or  professional  life  is  the 
cultivation  and  acquirement  of  the  power  to  think  for  one's 
self.  The  idea  that  there  is  any  better  field  in  which  to 
exercise  the  mental  faculties  and  gain  this  power  of  inde- 
pendent thought  than  in  the  study  of  the  classics  must 
be  attacked  without  gloves.  Is  accuracy  of  observation 
desired  ?  It  can  be  gained  as  well  in  distinguishing  the 
minutiae  of  inflectional  endings,  genders,  and  quantities, 
as  in  mixing  liquids  in  a  glass  dish.  Is  mental  vigor  in 
wrestling  with  a  complex  problem  sought  ?  What  can  test 
it  better  than  being  presented  before  a  Latin  period  of 
many  clauses,  moods,  tenses,  cases,  each  one  of  which 
must  be  coordinated,  subordinated,  in  one  correct  way,  in 
its  proper  relation  to  the  whole,  —  must,  so  to  speak,  be 
ticketed  and  put  into  its  own  cubby-hole,  and  then  taken 
out  again  and  arranged  in  its  correct  position  before  sym- 
metry and  sense  will  be  complete  ?  Is  it  breadth  of  view 
thai:  we  should  have  ?  The  student  of  a  Latin  lesson,  be- 
fore he  has  mastered  it,  is  liable  to  be  called  upon  to  con- 
sider and  investigate  form,  syntax,  synonym,  elegance  of 


DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT  9 

expression,  in  at  least  two  languages,  history,  geography, 
mythology,  antiquities,  and  general  linguistics.  Is  it  origi- 
nality that  is  the  aim  ?  It  does  not  take  half  the  effort  to 
strike  out  on  a  new  line  and  make  a  new  discovery  in  the 
comparatively  modern  sciences  that  it  does  in  the  realm  of 
classical  study  and  research,  where  the  ground  has  been 
already  carefully  covered  by  the  great  scholars  of  many 
centuries.  No  !  If  you  would  have  a  youth  gain  the  power 
to  grasp  any  difficult  problem  with  a  well-trained  mind,  let 
him  study  the  classics  faithfully  and  with  a  purpose.  How 
can  one  trained  merely  to  a  particular  trade  compete  with 
such  a  mind,  whether  the  training  has  been  acquired  in  an 
apprenticeship  or  in  a  "  school  "  ? 

It  is  as  yet  quite  too  early  to  estimate  accurately  what 
the  new  learning  without  the  classics,  so  earnestly  preached 
upon  many  a  housetop,  will  achieve  for  culture,  business 
success,  or  scientific  precision.  For  the  present  generation 
was  almost  entirely  educated  classically,  and  has  used  its 
power  thus  acquired  to  achieve  the  great  material  success 
that  has  been  won,  as  well  as  to  revile  its  teacher.  The 
great  modern  structure  of  science  has  been  built  by  classi- 
cally educated  men  upon  the  classical  foundation.  If  we 
could  get  a  generation  trained  only  in  modern  languages, 
or  sciences,  by  itself,  we  might  be  able  to  form  some  idea 
of  what  it  could  achieve,  and  what  might  be  its  leading  char- 
acteristics and  its  superiority  or  inferiority.  But  as  yet  we 
have  no  data  to  show  that  the  claims  made  for  such  an 
education  would  be  realized.  We  are,  however,  beginning 
to  notice,  be  it  remarked  in  passing,  something  of  what 
the  practice  versus  the  theory  of  giving  a  boy  his  own 
sweet  will  from  the  word  "  go  "  will  effect  in  educational 


10  DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

institutions  themselves.  Look  at  the  facts.  Does  the  boy 
aim  for  culture  or  for  dollars  ?  Study  the  proportions  in 
class  statistics  and  note  what  part  of  the  class  goes  into 
business  and  what  part  into  a  profession.  Does  he  indus- 
triously pick  out  the  subjects  that  best  fit  his  particular 
"bent,"  or  does  a  class  follow  fads  like  a  flock  of  sheep, 
taking  such  courses  as  are  popular  on  account  of-  their 
ease,  or  the  personal  geniality  of  the  instructor,  or  their 
novelty  ?  Does  he  now  get  into  the  honor  lists  at  gradua- 
tion better  than  when  forced  to  study  more  of  the  classics, 
or  do  the  honor  lists  decrease  ?  Does  he  wisely  give  sport 
the  proper  place  in  his  curriculum,  or  does  that  monopo- 
lize the  best  part  of  his  strength  and  interest,  leaving 
comparatively  little  vigorous  enthusiasm  for  the  main  con- 
cerns of  education  ?  Does  he  now  become  well  informed 
on  the  great  problems  of  life,  or  is  it  more  apt  to  be  upon 
the  contents  of  that  peculiar  American  abomination,  the 
thick  Sunday  newspaper  ?  Too  near  the  truth,  alas !  is 
Mr.  Flexner,  when  he  says,  "  The  college  has  come  down 
from  the  mountain ;  it  dwells  among  men."  For  in  places, 
and  at  times,  it  seems  as  if  it  had  ceased  to  be  a  city 
set  on  a  hill,  to  draw  men  up  to  its  light,  and  had  rather 
been  pulled  down  to  the  level  of  the  mob,  on  the  joyless 
lains  below. 

Teachers  of  the  classics  know  —  they  do  not  simply 
opine,  they  know — that  a  classical  education  is  invaluable 
for  mental  training  and  for  an  appreciation  of  history, 
literature,  and  all  that  makes  an  intelligent  and  cultured 
life  for  a  good  citizen.  They  know  that  there  is  no  sub- 
stitute for  Greek  and  La{in  in  combining  all  the  disciplin- 
ary, civilizing,  and  humanizing  elements  that  appertain 


DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT  II 

* 
to  study.    One  cannot  rub  up  against  Greek  sculpture  in 

French,  nor  against  Roman  law  and  the  development  of 
political  institutions  in  German,  nor  against  ancient  phi- 
losophy in  Spanish.  And  if  he  studies  English  and  English 
literature  indefinitely,  he  is  still  handicapped  without  a 
classical  basis  beneath  him,  when  he  tries  to  understand 
its  countless  relations  and  direct  references  to  the  literature, 
mythology,  biography,  political  development,  and  social 
customs  of  those  two  races  upon  whose  civilization  has 
been  reared  the  structure  of  the  world  of  the  twentieth 
century.  {'Nor  can  he  hurry  through  a  few  translations  of 
standard  classical  writers  and  accomplish  the  same  result 
as  that  achieved  through  a  regular  classical  education,  any 
more  than  he  can  take  a  Pullman  car  across  the  continent 
and  back,  and  then  write  intelligently  of  the  land,  its 
people  and  their  customs,  their  morals  and  their  civili- 
zation. He  must  rather  take  time  and  care  to  get  down 
into  the  life  of  the  people,  to  associate  with  them  in  their 
everyday  affairs,  and  to  absorb  their  spirit.  |  There  are 
indeed  other  tiny  pebbles  upon  the  educational  strand; 
but  Greek  and  Latin  are  bowlders  in  comparison  with 
their  would-be  petrean  associates  at  the  edge  of  the  ocean 
of  knowledge ! 

Naturally  enough,  nobody  appreciates  these  facts  quite 
as  well  as  the  classical  teachers  themselves.  There  is,  to 
be  sure,  a  gratifying  comity  in  evidence  in  the  educational 
world ;  but  every  cause  must  furnish  its  own  champions. 
It  is  Yale  that  shouts  for  Eli,  and  Princeton  for  old 
Nassau.  Who  is  to  "  holler  "  for  the  classics  except  clas- 
sical men  ?  Yet,  while  it  may  not  be  denied  that  they  are 
probably  sufficiently  self-satisfied,  they  don't  exactly  do  it. 


12  DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

They  hate  to  hustle  for  business  among  the  throng.  It  is 
easier  and  more  dignified  to  sigh  gently  and  deprecate  the 
signs  of  the  times.  But  if  there  is  to  be  any  new  life  in- 
fused into  these  "dry  bones,  classical  men  are  the  wizards 
to  do  the  trick.  How,  then,  is  it  to  be  done  ? 

1.  By  improved  pedagogical  methods.    Many  signs  of 
progress  can  here  already  be  discerned.    Textbooks  to-day 
are  greatly  superior  to  those  of  a  generation  ago,  in  plan, 
illustrative  material,  linguistic  accuracy,  attractiveness.   Ar- 
chaeology is  becoming  more  and  more  the  handmaid  of 
language  in  relation  to  Greece  and  Rome.   The  lantern  has 
become  an  instrument  of  great  power  to  vivify  the  people 
and  places  and  things  with  which  classical  texts  deal,  and 
its  use  can  be  infinitely  extended.  The  curriculum  is  being 
wisely  extended  to  include  many  courses  in  ancient  politics, 
law,  private  life,  religion,  art,  and  other  subjects  appealing 
to  present-day  thinkers.    An  hour  in  the  Latin  or  Greek 
classroom  does  not  mean  a  grammatical  quiz  so  much  as 
it  used  to,  —  sometimes,   possibly,   not   so   much   as   it 
should,  for  extremes  in  tendencies  are  ever  the  failing  of 
fmjl  hunwA-ridtuie.    More  emphasis  is  being  placed  on 
the  ability  to  read  the  language  and  master  it  for  general 
purposes  of  pleasure  and  profit.    These  tendencies  will  be 
wisely  followed  out  in  the  teaching  of  the  future. 

2.  Many  a  comparison  can  be  instituted  between  ancient 
and  modern  life,  to  make  more  vivid  the  ancient  history  and 
to  teach  the  lesson  of  the  meaning  of  modern  trends.   Most 
instructive  is  the  comparison  of  movements  in  Roman  days 
—  political,  social,  or  religious — with  similar  movements 
in  our  own  days.   Put  Sicily  and  Hawaii  side  by  side,  if  you 
would  keep  a  class  on  the  qui  vive.    Consider  the  divorce 


DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT  13 

problem  in  the  days  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  in  the  open- 
ing years  of  the  twentieth  century.  Inquire  into  the  con- 
ditions of  demoralizing  luxury  then  and  now.  Parallel  the 
Roman  and  the  American  senates.  You  will  see  nobody 
going  to  sleep  under  this  process,  and  the  extent  to  which 
such  comparisons  are  possible  is  hardly  yet  realized. 

3.  A  much  wider  human  interest  can  be  given  to  the 
study  of  Greek  and  Latin  by  wisely  broadening  the 'scope 
of  the  literature  handled.    There  is  an  immense  amount 
of  untasted  delicacies  in  the  literatures,  ancie'nt  and  medi- 
eval, written  in  the  classic  languages,  to  whet  the  appetite 
and  delight  the  literary  palate  of  the*  learner.    The  world 
of  scholars  is  beginning  to  awake  £&  the  possibilities  of  the 
wider  field  of  reading.  But  mor£  of  this  in  another  chapter. 

4.  That  there  should  be 'an  important  change  in  the 
attitude  of  classical  teache.r^  is  essential.'  There  are,  indeed, 
already  evidences  that  fa  is  beginning  to  be  realized  that 
no  merely  defensive  campaign,  like  the  traditional  one  of 
the  generations^Dast,  will  suffice.    No  contented  air  of  su- 
periority, or  references  to  the  "splendid  discipline  "  gained 
from  the  classics,  will  alone  win  the  day.    The  time  has 
surely  come  to  carry  the  ball  into  the  enemy's  territory,  and, 
even  if  "  downed  "  once,  twice,  or  thrice,  to  make  the  re- 
quired distance  and  keep  control  of  the  play.   An  aggres- 
sive campaign  always  and  everywhere  in  behalf  of  classical 
study  should  be  the  order  of  the  day. 

%  What  an  inspiring  wealth  of  material  the  classics  afford 
with  which  to  build  a  castle  of  fairy  beauty  before  the  eye 
of  imagination  in  a  young,  ambitious  pupil  with  the  long, 
long  thoughts  of  youth  before  him  and  the  choice  of  a 
career  to  come !  How  easy  it  is  to  emphasize  the  general 


14  DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

agreement  between  teachers  of  science,  modern  languages, 
and  even  technical  branches,  that  the  classics  make  the  best 
basis  for  the  most  successful  study  of  their  special  subjects ! 
How  foolish  not  to  urge  at  all  times  the  enormous  positive 
disciplinary  value  of  the  classics  in  acquiring  a  mastery  of 
English,  whether  for  public  speech,  literary  work,  or  every- 
day culture !  For  example,  the  very  elaborateness  of 
structure  of  the  Latin  language,  so  unlike  English,  ren- 
ders it  peculiarly  adapted  to  concentrate  the  attention  upon/ 
the  details  of  form,  structure,  and  expression  in  Eng- 
lish, and  is  thus  much  better  suited  to  develop  a  mastery 
of  English  and  a  practical  English  style  than  ia  any 
modern  language,  or  the  study  of  English  alone/  This 
principle  of  teaching  by  parallels,  and  especially  by 
contrast,  has  not  been  sufficiently  emphasized  in  peda- 
gogical thought*  Boys  and  girls  learn  their  own  lan- 
guage naturally,  by  mere  rote,  without  any  analysis,  and 
frequently  without  any  understanding  of  the  grammatical 
forms  and  structure  which  they  glibly  utter  in  everyday 
life.  And  grammatical  analysis  is  irksome  when  it  begins 
to  be  required,  for  it  seems  unnecessary  to  the  young 
minds  that  feel  already  able  to  use  the  language  as  well 
as  those  about  them  use  it.  They  think  of  grammar  as  an 
abstract  science.  But  by  comparing  such  a  language  as 
Latin  the  interest  in  the  most  correct,  emphatic,  and  ele- 
gant forms  of  expression  is  awakened  and  developed. 
Most  of  the  great  thinkers,  writers,  and  speakers  of  Eng- 
lish have  been  through  this  experience,  and  the  wonder  is 
that  many  are  so  blind  to  it,  sometimes  even  after  having 
experienced  it  in  their  own  lives.  There  was  Macaulay, 
with  his  remarkable  memory  and  mind,  so  well  read  and 


DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT  15 

trained  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  and  so  enthusi- 
astic over  them  that  he  used  to  review  them  constantly 
throughout  his  life.  Yet  even  he  seems  at  times  to  have 
lost  sight  of  their  inevitable  power.  In  the  biography  of 
that  magnificent  orator,  William  Pitt,  he  writes  : 

To  modern  literature  Pitt  paid  comparatively  little  attention.  He 
knew  no  living  language  except  French ;  and  French  he  knew  very 
imperfectly.  With  a  few  of  the  best  English  writers  he  was  intimate, 
particularly  with  Shakespeare  and  Milton.  .  .  .  His  education,  indeed, 
was  well  adapted  to  form  a  great  parliamentary  speaker.  One  argu- 
ment often  urged  against  those  classical  studies  which  occupy  so 
large  a  part  of  the  early  life  of  every  gentleman  bred  in  the  south  of 
our  island  is,  that  they  prevent  him  from  acquiring  a  command  of  his 
mother  tongue,  and  that  it  is  not  unusual  to  meet  with  a  youth  of 
excellent  parts  who  writes  Ciceronian  Latin  prose  and  Horatian  Latin 
Alcaics,  but  who  would  find  it  impossible  to  express  his  thoughts  in 
pure,  perspicuous,  and  forcible  English.  There  may,  perhaps,  be 
some  truth  in  this  observation.  But  the  classical  studies  of  Pitt  were 
carried  on  in  a  peculiar  manner,  and  had  the  effect  of  enriching  his 
English  vocabulary,  and  of  making  him  wonderfully  expert  in  the 
art  of  constructing  correct  English  sentences.  His  practice  was  to 
look  over  a  page  or  two  of  a  Greek  or  Latin  author,  to  make  himself 
master  of  the  meaning,  and  then  to  read  the  passage  straight  forward 
into  his  own  language.  This  practice,  begun  under  his  first  teacher, 
Wilson,  was  continued  under  Pretyman.  It  is  not  strange  that  a 
young  man  of  great  abilities,  who  had  been  exercised  daily  in  this 
way  during  ten  years,  should  have  acquired  almost  unrivaled  power 
of  putting  his  thoughts,  without  premeditation,  into  words  well 
selected  and  well  arranged. 

Macaulay  need  not  have  made  even  that  modest  con- 
cession to  the  attack  of  the  enemies  of  the  classics.  He 
should  have  known  that  William  Pitt's  education  in  the 
classics  was  merely  an  exaggeration  of  what  he  himself 
and  practically  all  well-educated  Englishmen  had  enjoyed ; 
and  that  he  could  scarcely  call  over  the  names  of  the  poli- 
ticians, churchmen,  and  men  of  letters  who  have  made 


16  DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

England  great,  without  at  the  same  time  showing  the 
practical  results  of  a  thorough  classical  education. 

Even  more  important,  interesting,  and  effective  is  the 
argument  based  upon  the  inestimable  value,  the  indispen- 
sable nature,  of  a  classical  education  for  an  appreciation  of 
the  world's  best  thought  as  embodied  in  the  best  literature. 
For  surely  it  is  only  by  communing  with  the  best  thought 
of  the  world's  best  thinkers  that  we  can  hope  to  get  the 
best  out  of  life.  Honorable  and  valuable  as  is  the  ability 
to  create  a  perfectly  fitting  horseshoe  or  a  finely  balanced 
snow  shovel,  can  the  pleasure  derived  from  it  be  compared 
for  a  moment  to  that  of  sharing  the  most  beautiful  and  the 
most  noble  thoughts  of  the  greatest  thinkers  among  man- 
kind ?  The  young  man  looking  forward  to  the  happy  life 
of  an  educated  man,  expecting  to  enjoy  in  his  own  home 
some  of  the  fruits  of  his  education,  not  merely  to  make 
money  out  of  it,  should  be  led  to  realize  how  common  it 
is  for  business  men,  to  say  nothing  of  those  in  the  pro- 
fessions, to  regret  that  they  cannot  enjoy  the  best  literature 
even  in  their  own  tongue. 

It  is  idle  to  argue  that  the  best  in  Greek  and  Latin 
literature  is  accessible  in  English  translations.  Really  to 
reproduce  a  work  of  literature  in  another  language  is  im- 
possible ;  for  all  that  is  most  essential,  delicate,  and  intan- 
gible in  expression,  form,  and  spirit  vanishes  as  soon  as 
another  version  is  attempted  by  another  mind.  Put  your- 
self in  the  place  of  the  foreigner.  Take  your  "  Hamlet," 
your  Mr.  Dooley,  your  "  Hiawatha,"  in  a  German  or  Rus- 
sian translation.  Would  you  be  satisfied  ?  The  thing  is 
absurd.  Here,  for  example,  is  an  edition  of  Shakespeare's 
"  Winter's  Tale  "  in  parallel  German  and  English.  The 


DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT  17 

translation  is  well  done,  as  such  things  go.  Opening  at 
random,  the  first  line  that  strikes  your  eye  at  the  top  of 

the  page  may  be, 

My  wife  is  slippery  ? 

for  which  the  parallel  German  reads,  on  the  opposite  page, 
Mein  Weib  sei  ungetreu  ? 

with  all  the  force  of  the  original  figure  gone.  A  little  lower 
down  comes  the  phrase, 

horsing  foot  on  foot ; 

and  the  German  —  on  foot,  certainly,  rather  than  on  horse- 
back !  —  reads 

setzen  Fuss  auf  Fuss  ! 

Turning  the  page,  we  continue, 

ay,  and  thou, 

His  cupbearer,  —  whom  I  from  meaner  form 
Have  bench'd  and  reared  to  worship,  who  mayst  see 
Plainly  as  heaven  sees  earth  and  earth  sees  heaven, 
How  I  am  galled,  —  mightst  bespice  a  cup, 
To  give  mine  enemy  a  lasting  wink ; 
Which  draught  to  me  were  cordial. 

Under  this  the  German  staggers  thus : 

ja  wohl,  und  du, 

Sein  Mundschenk,  —  den  aus  nieder'm  Stand  ich  hob 
Zu  Rang  und  Wiirden,  der  so  klar  es  sieht, 
Wie  Himmel  Erde  sieht  und  Erde  Himmel, 
Wie  ich  gekrankt  bin,  —  kannst  der  Becher  wiirzen, 
Der  iheinem  Feind  ein  ew'ger  Schlaftrunk  wiirde, 
Mir  starkend  Heilungsmittel. 

Or  let  us  try  to  get  the  idea,  the  other  way  around,  for 
example,  of  this  stanza  sung  by  Autolycus  thus  in  the 
German  version : 


18  DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

Wenn  Kesselflicker  im  Lande  leben, 
Und  wandern  mit  Russ  geschwarzt ; 
So  darf  ich  doch  auch  noch  Antwort  geben, 
Und  im  Stock  selbst  wird  wohl  gescherzt. 

Do  we  not  get  new  light  when  we  read  the  original  ? 

If  tinkers  may  have  leave  to  live, 
And  bear  the  sowskin  budget, 
Then  my  account  I  well  may  give, 
And  in  the  stocks  avouch  it  ? 

Not  all  English  translations  of  Latin  originals  are  as 
atrocious  as  this  interesting  example  of  how  Mulcaster, 
the  English  schoolmaster  of  the  Elizabethan  Age,  tried  to 
English  his  own  Latin  poem  on  the  death  of  his  queen : 

As  good  Elizabeth  raignes  most  happie  now  in  heaven, 
So  happy  may  King  James  raigne  long  with  us  on  earth ; 
And  as  she  did  avoid  the  Jesuites'  treacherous  traines, 
Whereby  she  got  her  grave  in  dire  and  quiet  death, 
So  good  King  James  goe  late  to  God,  and  slip  their  snares ; 
For  if  thou  stick'st  to  God,  they'l  not  sticke  to  sticke  thee ! 

Yet  how  few  can  represent  to  any  satisfactory  degree 
the  melody,  the  imagination,  the  delicate  turns  of  thought 
of  the  original !  Which  of  the  great  masters  of  English 
poesy  who  have  tried  their  hand  at  it  has  been  able  to  do 
justice  to  Horace's  stanzas  ? 

Quis  multa  gracilis  te  puer  in  rosa 
perfusus  liquidis  urget  odoribus 
grato,  Pyrrha,  sub  antro  ? 

Cui  flavam  religas  comam, 
simplex  munditiis  ?  Heu  quotiens  fidem 
mutatosque  deos  flebit  et  aspera 
nigris  aequora  ventis 
emirabitur  insolens. 


DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT  19 

Even  Milton,  the  incomparable  Word  painter,  fails  to  meas- 
ure up  to  the  charm  of  the  original.  What  is  a  translation 
to  do  with  that  colossal  onomatopoeia  of  the  music  of  the 
spheres  in  Lucretius  ? 

Ergo  vivida  vis  animi  pervicit,  et  extra 

processit  longe  flammantia  moenia  mundi 

atque  omnia  immensum  peragravit  mente  animoque. 

Goldwin  Smith  renders  it  thus  : 

Past  the  world's  flaming  walls  his  venturous  mind 
Through  the  unmeasured  universe  pressed  on ; 

Mallock,  thus : 

His  spirit  broke  beyond  our  world  and  past 
Its  flaming  walls,  and  fathomed  all  the  vast. 

In  either  case  the  majesty  is  gone. 
If  you  try  Catullus  when  he  sings  : 

Te  suis  tremulus  parens 
invocat,  tibi  virgines 
zonula  soluont  sinus, 
te  timens  cupida  novus 
captat  aure  maritus, 

you  will  see  how  baffling  is  his  music. 

Certain  failure  awaits  the  attempt  to  reproduce  Ovid's 
merry  echo : 

Forte  puer,  comitum  seductus  ab  agmine  fido, 

dixerat  "  ecquis  adest  ?  ",  et  "  adest !  "  responderat  Echo. 

hie  stupet,  atque  aciem  partes  dimittit  in  omnes, 

voce  "  veni !  "  magna  clamat :  vocat  ilia  vocantem. 

In  any  translation  what  becomes  of  the  bubbling  fun  of 
Plautus  ?  Thensaurochrysonicochrysides  vanishes  into  ba- 
thos ;  and  our  old  friend  Sagaristio,  the  "  Vaniloquidorus, 


20  DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

Virginisvendonides,  Nugipalamloquides,  Argentumextere- 
bronides,  Tedigniloquides,  Nummosexpalponides,  Quodse- 
melarripides,  Numquampostreddonides,"  is  transformed 
into  a  stupidly  prosaic  thief  no  more  like  the  original  than 
"  pious  ^Eneas  "  is  like  "  pius  Aeneas  "  ! 

A  great  work  of  art  is  revealed  in  a  carefully  rounded 
Ciceronian  period.  Listen  while  he  appeals  to  the  judges 
to  confirm  for  Archias  the  citizenship  he  had  so  long 
rightfully  possessed : 

Quae  cum  ita  sint,  petimus  a  vobis,  indices,  si  qua  non  modo 
humana,  verum  etiam  divina  in  tantis  ingeniis  commendatio  debet 
esse,  ut  eum  qui  vos,  qui  vestros  imperatoies,  qui  populi  Romani  res 
gestas  semper  ornavit,  qui  etiam  his  recentibus  nostris  vestrisque 
domesticis  periculis  aeternum  se  testimonium  laudis  daturum  esse 
profitetur,  estque  ex  eo  numero  qui  semper  apud  omnis  sancti  sunt 
habiti  itaque  dicti,  sic  in  vestram  accipiatis  fidem,  ut  humanitate 
vestra  levatus  potius  quam  acerbitate  violatus  esse  videatur. 

But  while  this  commands  our  admiration  in  its  original 
form,  anything  like  a  faithful  reproduction  of  that  form 
in  English  is  a  tedious  performance,  and  something  to 
be  carefully  avoided  in  the  shaping  of  an  English  style. 
Even  if  it  were  possible  —  as  it  surely  is  not  —  to 
secure  a  reproduction  of  such  a  passage  in  one's  own  ver- 
nacular, there  must  still  be  inevitable  failure  to  gain  an 
intimacy  with  the  thought,  the  life,  the  people,  the  influ- 
ence, of  Greece  and  Rome,  which  requires  time  and  close 
association.  But  this  very  intimacy  is  also  essential  if  a 
gentleman  of  culture  is  to  be  able  to  sit  down  in  his  library 
after  dinner  and  enjoy  the  best  English  literature.  He 
takes  down  his  Chaucer,  for  instance,  and  begins  the 
Prologue,  reading  in  the  fifth  line, 

Whan  Zephirus  eek  with  his  swete  breeth, 


DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT  21 

and  finds  himself  immediately  transported  back  into  the 
atmosphere  of  Vergil.  He  reads  on  here  and  there  : 

On  which  ther  was  first  write  a  crowned  A, 
And  after  Amor  mncit  omnia  ; 

Wei  knew  he  the  olde  Esculapius 
And  Deyscorides,  and  eek  Risus  ; 

Thanne  hadde  he  spent  al  his  philosophic, 
Ay,  "  Questio  quid  iuris^  wolde  he  crie; 

And  also  war  him  of  a  Significavit. 

As  he  continues,  the  Knight's  Tale  comes  first  in  order 
after  the  Prologue,  and  he  finds  himself  at  once  occupied 
with  the  tales  of  classic  literature,  with  Theseus,  Athens, 
Hippolyte,  Venus,  Cithaeron,  Narcissus,  Medea,  Hercules, 
Turnus,  Circe,  Cupid,  Mars,  in  the  midst  of  which,  with- 
out the  classic  education,  he  is  like  a  cat  in  a  strange 
garret.  It  is  needless  to  weary  the  reader's  patience  with 
further  Chaucerian  examples,  which  abound  on  every  page. 
Chaucer  is  simply  saturated  with  the  classic  spirit. 

A  reader  without  any  familiarity  with  the  mythology 
and  accompanying  imagery  of  the  classic  writings  could, 
to  be  sure,  painfully  search  out  the  recondite  meanings  in 
classical  dictionaries  and  other  repositories  of  such  lore. 
But  it  would  be  a  tedious  thing  to  read  Spenser  in  that 
way,  and  much  of  the  picture  that  he  paints  would  be  but 
a  hazy  outline,  as  compared  with  the  scene  that  rises  before 
the  classically  educated  man  as  he  reads  : 

He  bade  awake  blacke  Plutoe's  griesly  dame ; 

Great  Gorgon,  Prince  of  darknesse  and  dead  night, 
At  which  Cocytus  quakes,  and  Styx  is  put  to  flight ; 


22  DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

there  Tethys  his  wet  bed 
Doth  ever  wash,  and  Cynthia  still  doth  steepe 
In  silver  deaw  his  ever-drouping  hed ; 

Ph&bus  fiery  carre 
In  hast  was  climbing  up  the  easterne  hill ; 

Now  when  the  rosy-fingred  morning  faire, 

Weary  of  aged  Tithones  saffron  bed, 

Had  spread  her  purple  robe  through  deaway  aire, 

And  the  high  hills  Titan  discovered, 

The  royall  virgin  shooke  off  drowsy-hed ; 

As  many  forms  and  shapes  in  seeming  wise 
As  ever  Proteus  to  himself  could  make ; 

Of  griesly  Pluto  she  the  daughter  was, 
And  Proserpina,  the  Queene  of  hell ; 

And  thundring  Jove,  that  high  in  heaven  doth  dwell 
And  wield  the  world,  she  claymed  for  her  syre ; 

And  brought  the  heavy  corse  with  easy  pace 
To  yawning  gulfe  of  deepe  Avernus  hole ; 

They  pas  the  bitter  waves  of  Acheron 
Where  many  soules  sit  wailing  woefully ; 
And  come  to  fiery  flood  of  Phlegeton  ; 

Before  the  threshold  dreadfull  Cerberus 
His  three  deformed  heads  did  lay  along ; 

There  was  Ixion  turned  on  a  wheele, 
For  daring  tempt  the  Queene  of  heaven  to  sin ; 
And  Sisyphus  an  huge  round  stone  did  reele 
Against  an  hill,  ne  might  from  labor  lin ; 
Where  thirsty  Tantalus  hong  by  the  chin ; 
And  Tityus  fed  a  vulture  on  his  maw ; 
Typhceus  joynts  were  stretched  on  a  gin ; 
Theseus  condemnd  to  endless  slouth  by  law  ; 
And  fifty  sisters  water  in  leake  vessels  draw ; 


DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT  23 

And  in  another  corner  wide  were  strowne 

The  antique  ruins  of  the  Romanes  fall : 

Great  Romulus,  the  grandsyre  of  them  all, 

Proud  Tarquin,  and  too  lordly  Lentulus, 

Stout  Scifiio,  and  stubborne  Hanniball, 

Ambitious  Sylla,  and  sterne  Marius, 

High  Ccesar,  great  Pompey,  and  fierce  Antonius; 

Leaping  like  wanton  kids  in  pleasant  spring. 
So  towards  old  Sylvanus  they  her  bring ; 

Far  off  he  wonders,  what  them  makes  so  glad, 

Or  Bacchus  merry  fruit  they  did  invent, 

Or  Cy  deles  franticke  rites  have  made  them  mad ; 

Sometimes  dame  Venus  selfe  he  seems  to  see; 

But  Venus  never  had  so  sober  mood : 

Sometimes  Diana  he  her  takes  to  be ; 

But  misseth  bow,  and  shaftes,  and  buskins  to  her  knee ; 

The  wooddy  nymphes,  faire  Hamadryades ; 
And  all  the  troupe  of  light-foot  Naides ; 

Such  one  it  was,  as  that  renowned  snake 
Which  great  Alcides  in  Stremona  slew, 
Long  fostered  in  the  filth  of  Lerna  lake ; 
Whose  many  heads  out  budding  ever  new 
Did  breed  him  endless  labour  to  subdew ; 

For  harder  was  from  Cerberus  greedy  jaw 
To  plucke  a  bone,  etc.,  etc. 

Such  passages,  picked  up  here  and  there  from  the  first 
book  merely,  show  how  dull  reading  Spenser  would  be 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  classics. 

Take  down  your  Shakespeare  and  begin  to  read  Macbeth's 
soliloquy  before  his  awful  deed  : 

Now  o'er  the  one  half-world 
Nature  seems  dead,  and  wicked  dreams  abuse 


24  DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

The  curtain'd  sleep ;  witchcraft  celebrates 

Pale  Hecate's  offerings ;  and  wither'd  murder, 

Alarum'd  by  his  sentinel,  the  wolf, 

Whose  howl 's  his  watch,  thus  with  his  stealthy  pace, 

With  Tarquin's  ravishing  strides,  towards  his  design 

Moves  like  a  ghost. 

But  what  are  "pale  Hecate's  offerings,"  and  what  is 
meant  by  the  expression  "  Tarquin's  ravishing  strides  "  ? 
How  inane  a  mass  of  words  such  a  passage  becomes  when 
the  key  to  it  is  lost  in  antiquity ! 

Pick  up  Bacon's  essays  and  read  the  immortal  discourse 
on  "  Frendship,"  and  realize  how  meaningless  such  writ- 
ing is  to  a  reader  without  the  classical  education  :  "  For 
when  Caesar  would  have  discharged  the  Senate,  in  regard 
of  some  ill  Presages,  and  specially  a  Dreame  of  Calpurnia  ; 
This  Man  lifted  him  gently  by  the  Arme,  out  of  his  Chaire, 
telling  him,  he  hoped  he  would  not  dismisse  the  Senate,  till 
his  wife  had  dreamt  a  better  Dreame.  And  it  seemeth,  his 
favour  was  so  great,  as  Antonius  in  a  letter,  which  is  re- 
cited Verbatim,  in  one  of  Cicero's  Philippiques,  calleth  him 
Venefica,  Witch;  As  if  he  had  enchanted  Ccesar.  Aiigiistus 
raised  Agrippa  (though  of  meane  Birth)  to  that  H eighth,  as 
when  he  consulted  with  Mcecenas,  about  the  Marriage  of  his 
daughter  lulia,  Mcecenas  tooke  the  Liberty  to  tell  him ; 
That  he  must  either  marry  his  daughter  to  Agrippa,  or 
take  away  his  life,  there  was  no  third  way,  he  had  made 
him  so  great.  With  Tiberius  C&sar,  Seianus  had  ascended 
to  that  Height,  as  they  Two  were  tearmed  and  reckoned, 
as  a  Paire  of  friends.  Tiberius  in  a  Letter  to  him  saith ; 
Haec  pro  amicitia  nostra  non  occultavi  :  And  the  whole 
Senate,  dedicated  an  Altar  to  Frendship,  as  to  a  Goddesse, 


DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT  25 

in  respect  of  the  great  Dearenesse  of  Frendship,  between 
them  Two.  The  like  or  more  was  between  Septimius  Se- 
verus  and  Plautianus" —  and  so  on,  and  so  on.  True,  you 
may  have  read  something  of  Caesar  and  Augustus  and  the 
rest  of  them  in  history ;  but  how  stupid  is  a  passage  like 
this  without  the  ability  to  transport  yourself  in  thought, 
with  a  full  understanding  of  the  surroundings,  back  into 
the  very  midst  of  the  scenes  there  conjured  up  by  Bacon ! 
Try  Milton.  Begin  the  "  L' Allegro  "  : 

Hence,  loathed  Melancholy, 

Of  Cerberus  and  blackest  Midnight  born 
In  Stygian  cave  forlorn 

'Mongst  horrid  shapes,  and  shrieks,  and  sights  unholy ! 
Find  out  some  uncouth  cell, 

Where  brooding  Darkness  spreads  his  jealous  wings, 
And  the  night-raven  sings ; 

There,  under  ebon  shades  and  low-browed  rocks, 
As  ragged  as  thy  locks, 

In  dark  Cimmerian  desert  ever  dwell. 
But  come,  thou  goddess  fair  and  free, 
In  heaven  yclept  Euphrosyne,  • 

And  by  men  heart-easing  Mirth ; 
Whom  lovely  Venus,  at  a  birth, 
With  two  sister  Graces  more, 
To  ivy-crowned  Bacchus  bore. 

But  hold  !  Who  is  "  Cerberus  "  ?  Where  is  the  "  Stygian 
cave  "  ?  Pray  what  is  a  "  Cimmerian  desert "  ?  Can  it  be 
located  on  a  Rand-McNally  atlas  ?  Who  are  these  people 
with  hard  names  to  pronounce  ?  And  did  Bacchus  wear 
ivy  for  any  special  purpose  ?  Alas  !  we  are  in  the  classical 
maze  again,  and  need  the  thread  of  classic  lore  to  lead  us 
out  into  the  open.  Does  the  professor  of  English  litera- 
ture look  with  complacency  upon  the  possibility  of  being 


26  DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

obliged    to   introduce   students   to   such   poems   without 
premising  a  classical  education  ? 

Turn  the  pages  and  read  in  "  Comus  "  : 

I  have  oft  heard 

My  mother  Circe  with  the  Sirens  three 
Amidst  the  flowery-kirtled  Naides 
Culling  their  potent  herbs  and  baleful  drugs, 
Who,  as  they  sung,  would  take  the  prisoned  soul 
And  lap  it  in  Elysium  :  Scylla  wept, 
And  chid  the  barking  waves  into  attention, 
And  fell  Charybdis  murmured  soft  applause. 

It  is  the  same  story.    Here  comes  the  "  Lycidas,"  and  once 
more  you  read : 

Return  Alpheus,  the  dread  voice  is  past, 

That  shrunk  thy  streams ;  return  Sicilian  muse. 

If  you  try  "  Paradise  Lost/'  you  are  soon  floundering 
about  amid  such  phrases  as,  "  Ceres  ripe  for  harvest "  ; 
" Aurora's  fan  ";  "  voice  mild  as  when  Zephyrus  on  Flora 
breathes  "  ;  "  pilot,  from  amidst  the  Cyclades  Delos  or 
Samos  first  appearing,  kens  a  cloudy  spot "  ;  "  in  Pontus, 
or  the  Punic  coast,  or  where  Alcinous  reign'd  "  ;  "  like 
Pomona  s  arbour  "  ;  "  the  first  goddess  feigned  of  three 
that  in  Mount  Ida  naked  strove."  And  how  far  short  we 
come  of  thorough  insight  into  the  thought  of  Milton,  if 
we  have  no  knowledge  of  Latin,  when  we  roll  under  our 
tongues  such  words  and  phrases  as  "  alimental  recom- 
pense," "  humid  exhalations,"  "mellifluous,"  "  concoctive 
heat  to  transubstantiate,"  "  love  unlibidinous  reigned," 
"corporal  nutriments,"  "celestial  tabernacles"! 

Not  merely  in  the  older  English  literature,  but  in  all 
the  master  works  of  later  periods  as  well,  as  the  reader 


DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT  2/ 

roves  at  will  he  still  finds  himself  everywhere  lost  without 
the  classics  to  interpret  or  to  paint  the  scenes  for  him. 
Now  you  are  with  Keats  in  his  "  Ode  to  a  Nightingale," 
where  he  sings  : 

light-winged  Dryad  of  the  trees ; 
Tasting  of  Flora  and  the  country  green ; 
Full  of  the  true,  the  blushful  Hippocrene; 
Lethe-wards  had  sunk. 

The  famous  odes,  "  On  a  Grecian  Urn,"  "  Fancy,"  and 
"  To  Psyche,"  are  in  subject  classic  and  abound  in  classic 
phrase,  as,  for  example  : 

Dulcet-ey'd  as  Ceres1  daughter, 
Ere  the  God  of  Torment  taught  her 
How  to  frown  and  how  to  chide ; 
With  a  waist  and  with  a  side 
White  as  Helens,  when  her  zone 
Slipt  its  golden  clasp,  and  down 
Fell  her  kirtle  to  her  feet, 
While  she  held  the  goblet  sweet, 
And  Jove  grew  languid. 

Indeed,  to  look  through  the  works  of  Keats  is,  from  start 
to  finish,  to  encounter  the  classics  at  every  turn  of  the  page. 
You  are  among  Syrinx,  Arcadian  Pan,  young  Narcissus, 
Echo's  bale,  Latmus's  top,  Dian's  temple,  sparkling  Heli- 
con, Baiae's  shore,  the  wrong'd  Libertas,  Clio's  beauty, 
with  the  rest  of  the  classic  beings  trooping  merrily  around 
you.  It  is  hardly  worth  while  to  multiply  instances  of  the 
classical  allusions  of  Keats.  His  most  ambitious  poems, 
"  Endymion,"  "  Hyperion,"  and  "  Lamia,"  are  all  built 


28  DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

on  a  Greek  foundation  and  finished  with  Greek  adorn- 
ments in  a  Greek  atmosphere.  His  friends  and  enemies 
alike  recognized  his  devotion  to  the  spirit  of  ancient 
Greece.  "  He  was  a  Greek,"  exclaimed  Shelley.  He  was 
accused  of  versifying  the  classical  dictionary  of  Lempriere  ; 
and  his  recent  editor,  Selincourt,  attributes  much  of  his 
inspiration  for  his  early  work  to  the  Elgin  marbles,  and 
an  important  part  of  his  stock  in  trade  to  the  "  Metamor- 
phoses "  of  Ovid. 

To  read  Shelley  is  one  long  revel  in  classical  mythology 
and  learning.  As  the  blue  waters  themselves,  in  the  "  Ode 
to  the  West  Wind," 

Beside  a  pumice  isle  in  Baiae's  bay, 
saw  in  sleep  old  palaces  and  towers, 

so  the  reader,  with  eyes  closed,  seems  to  wander  among 
the  men  of  ancient  days.  The  poems  are  introduced  by 
quotations  from  Lucretius,  Moschus,  Plato ;  for  Shelley 
was  ever  reading  the  classics  and  absorbing  their  beauties. 
In  the  year  1816,  for  example,  his  classical  reading  in- 
cluded Theocritus,  ^Eschylus,  Plutarch,  Lucian,  Lucretius, 
Pliny,  and  Tacitus.  His  notes  quote  passages  from  more 
unfamiliar  writers  here  and  there.  The  "  Prometheus  Un- 
bound "  was  written  in  the  Baths  of  Caracalla  at  Rome, 
and  pictures  the  gods  in  the  regions  of  classic  mythology. 
And  such  tides  as  "The  Witch  of  Atlas,"  " CEdipus  Tyran- 
nus,"  "  Epipsychidion,"  "Adonais,"  "Hellas,"  "  Otho," 
betray  the  enthusiasm  of  the  author  for  the  classic  world. 
Vergil's  sixth  book  is  quite  indispensable  for  a  good  un- 
derstanding of  such  poems  as  the  "  Epipsychidion  "  and 
the  "  Adonais."  Read  first  the  fourth  eclogue  of  Vergil, 


DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT  29 

and  then  can  you  with  delight  peruse  the  "  Hellas  "  as 
Shelley's  imagination  speaks  : 

The  world's  great  age  begins  anew, 

The  golden  years  return, 
The  earth  doth  like  a  snake  renew 

Her  winter  weeds  outworn  : 
Heaven  smiles,  and  faiths  and  empires  gleam 
Like  wrecks  of  a  dissolving  dream. 

A  brighter  Hellas  rears  its  mountains 

From  waves  serener  far  ; 
A  new  Peneus  rolls  its  fountains 

Against  the  morning  star ; 
Where  fairer  Tempes  bloom,  there  sleep 
Young  Cyclads  on  a  sunnier  deep. 

A  loftier  Argo  cleaves  the  main, 

Fraught  with  a  later  prize ; 
Another  Orpheus  sings  again, 

And  loves,  and  weeps,  and  dies. 
A  new  Ulysses  leaves  once  more 
Calypso  for  his  native  shore. 

Oh  write  no  more  the  tale  of  Troy, 

If  earth  Death's  scroll  must  be  — 
Nor  mix  with  Laian  rage  the  joy 

Which  dawns  upon  the  free, 
Although  a  subtler  Sphinx  renew 
Riddles  of  death  Thebes  never  knew. 

Another  Athens  shall  arise, 

And  to  remoter  time 
Bequeath,  like  sunset  to  the  skies, 

The  splendor  of  its  prime : 
And  leave,  if  nought  so  bright  may  live, 
All  earth  can  take  or  heaven  can  give. 

Saturn  and  Love  their  long  repose 
Shall  burst,  etc. 


30  DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

If  you  are  to  understand  what  the  poet  means,  how 
necessary,  too,  the  Latin  background  for  such  expressions 
as  these : 

Sublime  on  the  towers  of  my  skiey  bowers 
Lightning  my  pilot  sits ; 

The  sanguine  Sunrise,  with  his  meteor  eyes ; 

I  bind  the  Sun's  throne  with  a  burning  zone, 
And  the  Moon's  with  a  girdle  of  pearl. 

If  unconvinced,  try  the  stanzas  of  the  "  Ode  to  Liberty,"  and 
run  over  such  titles  as  "Arethusa,"  "Song  of  Proserpine," 
"  Hymn  of  Apollo,"  "  Hymn  of  Pan,"  and  "  Orpheus." 

Without  Latin,  Addison  is  impossible.  To  say  nothing  of 
his  elegant  Latin  poems,  his  " Dialogues  on  Medals"  are  to 
a  large  extent  made  up  of  passages  quoted  from  the  Latin 
classics.  His  chief  drama  is  the  "  Cato."  His  travels  are 
steeped  in  the  classics.  His  minor  poems  are  largely  trans- 
lations from  Vergil  and  Ovid,  and  his  celebrated  essays 
in  the  various  series  in  the  Whig-Examiner,  the  Tatler, 
and  the  others  are  constantly  prefaced  by  Latin  passages 
for  texts,  and  interlarded  with  countless  classical  quota- 
tions and  references. 

Without  a  first-hand  knowledge  of  Latin  and  Greek  the 
reader  will  frequently  find  an  impassable  barrier  erected 
to  his  appreciation  of  the  "  Biographia  Literaria  "  of  Cole- 
ridge, as  is  indicated  indeed  by  the  very  title.  And  even 
the  "  Ancient  Mariner  "  is  preceded  by  a  Latin  passage  of 
some  lines,  giving  the  key  to  the  thought. 

It  would  be  a  work  of  supererogation  to  recount  in  de- 
tail the  points  of  contact  between  Pope's  poetry  and  his 
classical  models.  A  mere  glance  at  the  table  of  contents 


DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT  31 

in  a  volume  of  his  complete  poems  suffices  to  show  how 
all  his  verse  was  based  on  classic  originals  or  pervaded 
with  the  classic  spirit.  The  pastorals  imitated  from  Theoc- 
ritus and  Vergil,  the  imitations  of  Horace,  the  transla- 
tion of  the  "  Iliad,"  the  various  translations  and  imitations 
from  Ovid,  Statius,  Hadrian,  Martial,  and  others  are,  to 
be  sure,  most  unlike  their  originals.  But  even  where  there 
is  no  excuse  of  original  form  Pope  finds  it  hard  to  break 
away  from  the  classic  models.  So  in  the  comparatively 
short  "Ode  on  Saint  Cecilia's  Day"  we  must  needs  hear 
of  Amphion,  "the  Nine,"  Morpheus,  Argo,  Pelion,  Phlege- 
thon,  Sisyphus,  Ixion,  Furies,  Elysian  flowers,  Eurydice, 
Proserpine,  Styx,  Hebrus,  Maeander,  Rhodope's  snows, 
Haemus,  the  Bacchanal's  cries,  and  Orpheus. 

Probably  Gray's  name  first  suggests  to  the  average 
reader  the  "  Elegy  Written  in  a  Country  Churchyard."  But 
if  you  examine  his  published  works,  it  will  be  found  that 
in  the  first  volume  is  the  "Agrippina,"  a  dramatic  frag- 
ment, with  some  translations  from  Statius  and  Proper- 
tius,  and  forty  pages  of  Latin  poetry  in  various  styles  and 
meters.  Volume  second  contains  not  merely  a  Latin  letter 
written  to  Richard  West  in  the  Ciceronian  style,  but  also 
a  wealth  of  passages  utterly  unintelligible  to  the  modern 
Philistine  without  a  knowledge  of  the  classics.  The  letters 
of  volume  third  are  also  full  of  classical  allusions,  while 
the  fourth  volume  is  entirely  composed  of  notes  to  Aris- 
tophanes and  Plato. 

Even  Wordsworth,  apostrophizing  a  daisy,  must  needs 
compare  it  to 

A  little  Cyclops  with  one  eye 
Staring  to  threaten  and  defy. 


32  DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

Do  you  say  that  at  least  the  modern  poets  have  broken 
away  from  the  classics,  and  that  we,  in  a  new  world,  can 
afford  to  neglect  the  old  ?  Read  Tennyson's  "Lucretius" ; 
hear  Matthew  Arnold  comparing  the  wash  of  the  sea  on 
Dover  beach  to  the  sound  which  Sophocles  long  ago  heard 
on  the  ^Egean  ;  scan  Longfellow's  titles  and  note  "  Chry- 
saor,"  "Prometheus,"  "Excelsior,"  "Enceladus,"  "Mori- 
tun  Salutamus,"  and  the  rest  of  them;  and  give  his 
"Masque  of  Pandora"  the  study  it  deserves. 

Even  in  our  own  Gilder,  though  we  expect  less  classi- 
cal allusion  and  more  of  the  human  life  of  to-day  in  plain 
English  appealing  to  every  human  heart,  we  note  such 
titles  as  "  Mors  Triumphalis,"  "  Sanctum  Sanctorum," 
"  Pro  Patria,"  "  Credo,"  "  Non  Sine  Dolore,"  and  read 
such  stanzas  as  this : 

Shall  greet,  ah,  who  can  say !  a  nobler  face 
Than  from  the  foam  of  Cytherean  seas : 
Loveliness  lovelier ;  mightier  harmonies 
Of  song  and  color ;  an  intenser  grace ; 
Beauty  that  shall  endure 
Like  Charts,  heavenly-pure; 
A  Spirit  solemn  as  the  starry  night, 
And  full  as  the  triumphant  dawn  of  golden  light. 

Add  Gilder's  own  testimony  to  the  undying  power  of  the 
classics : 

Greece  lives,  but  Greece  no  more ! 

Its  ashes  breed 

The  undying  seed 

Blown  westward  till,  in  Rome's  imperial  towers, 

Athens  reflowers ; 

Still  westward  —  lo,  a  wild  and  virgin  shore  ! 

But  perhaps  you  say  that  poetry  is  only  for  the  few, 
but  prose  for  the  many.  True,  though  our  gentleman  of 


DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT  33 

culture  should  certainly  be  of  the  few.  Try  Macaulay,  how- 
ever, to  see  what  part  the  classics  play  with  him.  That  he 
should  write  his  familiar  and  popular  classical  poems,  "  Ho- 
ratius  at  the  Bridge,"  "The  Battle  of  Lake  Regillus," 
"  Virginia,"  "  The  Prophecy  of  Capys,"  and  the  others, 
might  be  expected  from  one  who  constantly  read  and  re- 
read his  Greek  and  Latin  authors  from  year  to  year.  But 
consider  how  vastly  more  intelligible  is  his  English  prose 
to  one  with  a  classical  training.  Take  as  an  example  the 
biography  of  Samuel  Johnson,  and  judge  of  the  increase  in 
enjoyment  and  appreciation  of  it  as  one  passes  these  words 
and  expressions  with  a  consciousness  of  their  derived 
meaning  :  "  exposed  to  sale  "  ;  "  oracle  "  ;  "religious  and 
political  sympathy" ;  "he  had  qualified  himself  for  munic- 
ipal office "  /  "physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  peculi- 
arities which  afterwards  distinguished  the  man  were 
plainly  discernible  "  ;  "  morbid  propensity  to  sloth  and 
procrastination"  These  and  various  other  expressions  of 
similar  character  occur  in  the  first  few  sentences,  within  a 
single  half  page.  As  you  glance  along  perhaps  you  would 
not  hesitate  over  "impedimenta,"  "eccentric,"  "aristocrat- 
ical,"  "effigy,"  "undisputed  ascendency,"  "aggravated," 
"  incurable  hypochondriac,"  "  conceive  an  unintelligible 
aversion,"  "munificently,"  "sinecure,"  "subterranean," 
"sycophancy,"  "impost,"  "obloquy,"  "septennial,"  "anon- 
ymous," "vicissitude,"  "specimen,"  "inhospitable,"  "tran- 
scription," "morose  cynic,"  "monotonous,"  "obviously 
artificial, "  "  turgid, "  "  superfluities, "  "  concentrated, "  "  pro- 
spectus," "malevolent,"  "lexicographer,"  "conversant," 
and  the  like,  if  possessed  of  a  fair  acquaintance  with  your 
native  tongue.  Yet  how  much  more  these  expressions 


34  DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

would  impress  the  man  who  knows  their  origin  and  can 
thus  detect  the  deeper  significance  of  the  often  blind  form. 
But  supposing  the  diction  to  be  quite  intelligible  for 
all,  what  comfort  will  the  man  without  a  classical  education 
have  as  he  reads  from  page  to  page  in  this  essay  and 
meets  successively  passages  like  these?  —  "On  the  first 
day  of  his  residence  he  surprised  his  teachers  by  quoting 
Macrobius  "  ;  "  The  Blues  of  the  Roman  Circus  against 
the  Greens  "  ;  "  It  is  probable  that  what  he  had  suffered 
during  his  first  year  in  London  had  often  reminded  him 
of  some  parts  of  that  noble  poem  in  which  Juvenal  had 
described  the  misery  and  degradation  of  a  needy  man  of 
letters,  lodged  among  the  pigeons'  nests  in  the  tottering 
garrets  which  overhung  the  streets  of  Rome";  "  In  1749 
he  published  the  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes,  an  excellent 
imitation  of  the  tenth  satire  of  Juvenal.  It  is,  in  truth, 
not  easy  to  say  whether  the  palm  belongs  to  the  ancient 
or  the  modern  poet.  The  couplets  in  which  the  fall  of 
Wolsey  is  described,  though  lofty  and  sonorous,  are  feeble 
when  compared  with  the  wonderful  lines  which  bring 
before  us  all  Rome  in  tumult  on  the  day  of  the  fall  of 
Sejanus,  the  laurels  on  the  door-posts,  the  white  bull  stalk- 
ing toward  the  Capitol,  the  statues  rolling  down  from 
their  pedestals,  the  flatterers  of  the  disgraced  minister 
running  to  see  him  dragged  with  a  hook  through  the 
streets,  and  to  have  a  kick  at  his  carcass  before  it  is  hurled 
into  the  Tiber.  ...  On  the  other  hand,  Juvenal's  Hanni- 
bal must  yield  to  Johnson's  Charles;  and  Johnson's  vigor- 
ous and  pathetic  enumeration  of  the  miseries  of  a  literary 
life  must  be  allowed  to  be  superior  to  Juvenal's  lamentation 
over  the  fate  of  Demosthenes  and  Cicero  "  ;  "It  would  be 


DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT  35 

the  height  of  absurdity  in  a  man  who  was  not  familiar  with 
the  works  of  ^Eschylus  and  Euripides  to  publish  an  edition 
of  Sophocles  "  ;  "  One  Scotchman,  bent  on  vindicating 
the  fame  of  Scotch  learning,  defied  him  to  the  combat  in 
a  detestable  Latin  hexameter  : 

Maxima,  si  tu  vis,  cupio  contendere  tecum." 

To  the  reader  without  a  classical  education  these  remarks 
or  bits  of  literary  criticism  are  as  full  of  delight  as  the  inter- 
esting and  oft-quoted  asseveration  that  "  all  Abracadabra  is 
some  X,  Y,  Z  "  !  Not  to  urge  the  frequency  of  Latin  and 
Greek  quotations  in  Macaulay's  essays,  and  the  ever  recur- 
ring references  to  classic  writers,  writings,  and  themes,  how 
is  the  reader  to  make  any  satisfactory  headway  with  such  es- 
says as  that  on  history,  or  on  Addison,  or  on  Lord  Bacon, 
unless  he  has  the  background  of  a  classical  education  ? 

The  situation  is  similar  if  you  sit  down  to  Carlyle's  essay 
on  "  Goethe's  Helena,"  or  to  Montaigne  on  "  The  Educa- 
tion of  Children,"  or  to  Sidney's  "  Defence  of  Poesy,"  or 
to  Milton's  "  Areopagitica,"  or  to  Cowley's  "  Government 
of  Oliver  Cromwell,"  or  to  Goldsmith's  "  Of  Rewarding 
Genius  in  England,"  or  to  Disraeli's  "  The  Philosophy  of 
Proverbs,"  or  to  Charles  Lamb's  "  Complaint  of  the  Decay 
of  Beggars  and  the  Convalescent."  Even  in  our  own 
Whittier,  Lowell,  and  Whipple  the  classic  power  has  made 
itself  felt.  And  if  the  reader  is  genuinely  to  appreciate 
Mr.  Hamilton  Mabie's  "  Essays  on  Books  and  Culture," 
he  should  first  know  something  of  his  Greek  and  Latin. 

We  must  not  tarry  now  to  show  how  intimately  classic 
literature  and  classic  life  are  interwoven  with  all  our  other 
human  interests.  But  the  classical  teacher  must  do  it  for 


36  DRY  BONES  AND  LIVING  SPIRIT 

the  inquiring  student,  be  he  boy  or  man,  who  wants  to 
know,  "What  good  are  the  classics  anyhow?"  He  must 
trace  architecture  back  to  the  Parthenon,  sculpture  back 
to  Phidias,  law  back  to  the  Twelve  Tables,  political  liberty 
back  to  the  simple  days  of  the  early  Roman  republic, 
philosophy  back  to  Plato,  religious  institutions  back  to 
pagan  rites  beside  the  Tiber.  Yes,  he  must  trace  them, 
and  never  lose  the  opportunity  to  satisfy  that  craving  en- 
thusiasm for  the  reasons  for  things  that  bubbles  out  of 
every  youthful  heart.  He  must  never  put  his  questioner  off 
with  some  vague  reference  to  the  "  magnificent  discipline  " 
he  is  getting  from  classical  study. 

Dry  indeed  are  bones  rattled  emptily  without  any  pur- 
pose save  to  tickle  the  ear  of  the  groundlings,  but  in 
their  place  these  same  bones  may  ever  be  the  source  of 
vigorous  life.  The  vital  spirit  is  in  them,  and  the  touch 
of  the  master  hand  shall  bring  it  to  fruition.  Are  there 
not  signs  of  a  new  renaissance  of  classical  learning  ap- 
pearing out  of  the  darkness  of  our  greed-ridden  age? 
Shall  we  not  hope  to  emerge  from  the  clouds  of  monster 
trusts,  and  the  collapse  of  gigantic  bubbles,  and  the  mad 
chase  for  bonanza  mines,  and  the  drowning  gasps  uttered 
from  rivers  of  watered  stock,  and  rub  our  eyes  to  behold 
that,  after  all,  "to  get"  is  not  synonymous  with  "to  live"? 
Happy  day !  Not,  let  us  hope,  a  vain  imagining !  Let  us  give 
the  living  spirit  of  classical  study  free  course  in  these  days  of 
storm  and  stress,  and  when  our  great,  lusty,  young  country 
shall  have  got  its  physical  growth  and  have  passed  through 
the  veal  age,  we  may  hope  for  that  intellectual  maturity 
which  knows  and  enjoys  and  cultivates  all,  in  times  new  or 
old,  that  makes  the  real  life  of  the  soul  worth  living. 


A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS 

"  A  fair  chance  !  "  ejaculates  the  professor  of  chemistry. 
"  A  fair  chance  !  "  chime  in  the  professors  of  physics  and 
biology.  "  Why,  haven't  the  classics  been  the  center  and 
circumference  of  your  so-called  liberal  education  during  the 
centuries  ?  Have  n't  the  classics  formed  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  the  work  required  for  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Arts  in  most  of  our  colleges  and  universities  ?  Has  n't  a 
large  part  of  the  time  occupied  by  a  boy  or  girl  in  prepa- 
ration for  college  commonly  been  devoted  to  the  classics  ? 
Have  n't  the  classics  become  a  veritable  fetish  in  education, 
with  a  factitious  importance  out  of  all  proportion  to  their 
practical  value  in  this  busy  world  at  the  beginning  of  the 
twentieth  century  ?  Do  the  classics  wish  to  possess  the 
whole  surface,  and  the  orbit  too,  of  this  mundane  sphere  ? 
A  fair  chance !  "  And  a  contemptuous  curl  of  the  lip 
expresses  even  more  than  the  words  that  have  preceded  it, 
as  our  scientific  friends  turn  away  in  evident  disgust. 

Not  so  fast,  my  supercilious  friends  !  Granted  that  the 
classics  have  absorbed  a  good  share  of  the  attention  and 
study  of  the  learned  world  during  many  generations,  are 
we,  after  all,  giving  them  fair  treatment  at  this  very 
moment  ?  Every  true  scholar  rejoices  at  the  progress  and 
exalted  position  of  science  in  America,  as  well  in  the  cur- 
ricula of  the  higher  institutions  of  learning  as  in  almost 
every  other  department  of  our  widely  and  rapidly  expand- 
ing national  life.  He  would  surely  be  but  the  exponent  of 

37 


38  A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS 

a  most  contemptible  selfishness,  who  should  look  with  envy 
upon  the  munificent  endowments  and  the  rare  facilities 
possessed  by  our  best  scientific  and  technical  schools.  Is 
it  certain  that  the  same  generous  spirit  is  everywhere  mani- 
fested toward  classical  culture  and  its  representative  toilers  ? 
Do  scientific  men  among  us  warm  with  enthusiasm  over 
the  steady  improvements  in  methods  of  classical  study,  and 
over  its  recent  achievements  ?  Or  do  they  look  upon  Latin 
and  Greek  as  useless  remnants  of  a  waning  educational 
system,  the  mere  exercise  ground  for  idle  mental  gymnas- 
tics, and  hope  to  see  them  soon  give  way  to  something 
more  closely  connected  with  the  knowledge  and  subjuga- 
tion of  the  physical  world,  to  which  so  large  a  part  of  the 
attention  of  the  age  is  already  devoted  ?  Do  men  of  wealth 
most  readily  lavish  their  millions  upon  classical  equipments, 
or  upon  the  training  schools  for  developing  scientific 
methods  of  acquiring  other  millions  ?  The  genuine  Amer- 
ican is  justly  proud  of  the  world-famous  achievements  of 
higher  scientific  education  in  his  native  land.  How  is  it 
with  those  of  classical  education  ?  Is  there  not  constantly 
manifesting  itself  in  periodical  literature  and  in  life  an 
undercurrent  of  impatience  at  the  steady  persistence  of 
classical  studies,  and  a  desire  to  escape  from  the  whole 
stupid  business  ? 

"There  must  assuredly  be,"  writes  a  friendly  reviewer 
in  The  Nation,  "  among  teachers  of  the  classics  in  Amer- 
ica, a  growing  conviction  that  some  special  effort  must  be 
made  if  Greek  and  Latin  are  to  retain  the  place  worthy  of 
them  in  the  college  course."  Why  ?  What  is  the  matter 
with  the  classics  and  with  classical  teaching  ?  Certainly 
nobody  is  more  anxious  than  the  classical  instructor  to  learn 


A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS  3Q 

/ 

his  failings  and  to  broaden  his  effectiveness. /Let  us  listen 
intently  to  some  of  the  prevailing  criticisms  of  classical 
study  and  instruction. 

i.  "  There  is  no  reason  why  the  approaches  to  classical 
study  should  be  made  forbidding."  "  Make  them  attrac- 
tive in  the  first  stages."  By  all  means  !  That  seems  to  be 
a  leading  thought  among  classical  men  themselves  in  these 
days,  judging  from  the  recent  textbooks ;  from  the  sums 
expended  upon  pictures,  maps,  and  lantern  slides ;  from 
the  interest  taken  in  ancient  art,  history,  myth,  and  antiq- 
uities* But,  after  all,  how  are  the  classics  peculiar  in 
this  respect  ?  Are  the  "  approaches  "  to  other  lines  of 
study  so  very  attractive  ?  Do  we  drink  in  inspiration  from 
the  multiplication  table  ?  Are  the  formulas  of  chemical 
reactions  "  interesting  "  ?  Is  the  child  absorbed  with  enthu- 
siasm over  English  grammatical  analysis,  or  the  spelling 
book,  or  the  gender  of  German  nouns  ?  We  can,  rto  doubt, 
learn  much  of  our  history  nowadays  from  novels,  and 
our  English  from  "  Robinson  Crusoe  "  ;  we  can  become 
French  scholars  through  French  storybooks,  and  talk  Ger- 
man through  "Studien  und  Plaudereien  ";  and  in  the  labo- 
ratory, while  waiting  for  the  liquids  to  boil  and  disclose 
something  interesting,  we  may  tell  a  joke  to  while  away  the 
tedium,  and  smoke  a  cigarette  to  kill  the  other  stenches. 
But  these  sugar-coated  pills  and  juicy  mouthfuls  do  not 
suffice  alone  to  build  up  intellectual  strength,  without  some 
steady  diet  of  a  plainer  nature.  The  athlete  must  devote 
himself  largely  to  beef  and  bread  and  butter;  and,  similarly, 
the  mind  must  do  a  good  deal  of  hard,  often  irksome,  train- 
ing, long  before  the  results  heave  in  sight.  Even  such  a 
critic  as  ex-President  Andrews,  in  his  arraignment  of 


40  A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS 

classical  teaching,  was  forced  to  admit:  "To  begin  a  clas- 
sical tongue,  more  or  less  of  hard  and  cheerless  toil  must 
be  gone  through.  To  the  mastery  of  the  needful  accidence 
no  royal  road  exists."  This  thorough  drill  must  be  given, 
if  at  all,  in  the  preparatory  schools,  that  the  student  may  be 
ready  to  advance  to  a  higher  grade  of  subjects  for  investi- 
gation. If  too  much  grammar  is  bad,  too  little  grammar  is 
worse.  If  the  attempt  to  learn  the  art  of  swimming  with- 
out going  into  the  water  is  idiotic,  the  other  extreme  is 
suicidal. 

2.  Owing  to  unworthy  ideals  on  the  part  of  classical 
instructors,  the  methods  of  instruction  are  picayune,  pedan- 
tic, behind  the  times. 

In  most  colleges  [wrote  President  Andrews]  classical  culture,  in 
the  proper  sense  of  the  term,  is  hardly  so  much  as  aimed  at.  ... 
Most  of  the  odium  classicum  (if  that  is  not  very  bad  Latin)  of  recent 
years  is  due  to  classical  teachers  themselves.  They  have  not  tried  to 
sound  the  depths  of  the  riches  lying  at  their  feet.  Students  have 
asked  for  bread  and  have  received  stones. 

No  keen  observer  should  fail  to  discover  that  any  past 
failures  of  this  sort  are  to  be  attributed  not  to  a  lack  of 
proper  disposition  on  the  part  of  classical  teachers,  but 
rather  to  the  circumstances  that  have  attended  their  labors, 
and  to  the  crudeness  of  the  material  with  which  they  have 
had  to  deal.  The  scarcity  of  opportunities  for  teachers  to 
learn  their  art,  and  for  pupils  to  get  their  preparation  ;  the 
absurd  multiplicity  of  poorly  endowed  colleges  and  so-called 
"  universities  "  ;  and  the  killing  burden  of  classroom  and 
routine  work  demanded  of  classical  teachers,  —  these 
causes  have  long  combined  in  America  to  retard  progress 
in  the  methods  of  instruction  and  to  crush  out  enthusiastic 


.      A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS  41 

ambition  toward  the  best  ideals.  Doubtless  there  have  been 
in  the  past  too  many  cases  where  undue  prominence  has 
been  given  to  dry  grammatical  drill  at  the  expense  of  the 
spirit  and  the  beauty  of  the  classics.  But  it  can  no  longer 
be  said,  without  gross  misrepresentation  of  the  spirit  pre- 
vailing among  us,  that  "  Sophocles  and  Plato,  Horace  and 
Juvenal,  are,  from  the  American-university  point  of  view, 
almost  valueless  of  themselves  "  (Mr.  King  in  the  North 
American  Review).  No  such  state  of  things  is  now  possi- 
ble in  any  respectable  American  college.  If  anything  has 
marked  the  efforts  of  classical  instructors  within  recent 
years,  it  has  been  the  enthusiasm  with  which  they  have  en- 
deavored to  impress  upon  their  students  the  spirit  of  the 
authors  before  their  consideration,  and  to  reproduce  the 
picture  of  ancient  life  as  vividly  as  possible.  From  every 
quarter  the  cry  has  been  heard,  ''Read,  read,  read!"  And 
they  have  read,  often  pushing  on  with  undiminished  speed 
through  regions  of  grammatical  difficulty,  without  pausing 
to  examine  very  closely  the  details  of  the  ground,  in  their 
eagerness  to  explore  the  unknown  and  to  discern  new  poet- 
ical, historical,  or  philosophical  beauties.  Indeed,  in  such 
a  quest  there  is  sometimes  danger  of  forgetting  that  it  is 
well-nigh  impossible  to  appreciate  the  charm  of  delightful 
surroundings  while  stumbling  over  a  rock  in  the  path  or 
"taking  a  header"  over  a  philological  unevenness  in  the 
road.  Greek  and  Roman  literature  as  literature,  poetry 
from  the  standpoint  of  poetical  criticism,  history  with 
regard  to  its  comparative  accuracy  and  reliability,  oratory 
in  relation  to  its  conformity  to  the  principles  of  rhetoric, 
philosophy  as  the  foundation  of  modern  philosophical 
thought,  classical  art  and  architecture,  manners  and  morals, 


42  A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS 

mythology  and  religion,  —  such  are  the  topics  in  the  clas- 
sical instruction  of  to-day  that  are  engaging  the  attention 
of  undergraduate  and  graduate  alike  in  all  our  first-class 
colleges. 

In  all  this  the  instructor  must  often  contend  against 
immense  odds.  A  good  many  of  his  pupils  look  upon  clas- 
sical study  merely  as  something  to  be  endured  because  it 
is  required,  and  to  be  thrown  aside  as  soon  as  possible. 
Such  students,  of  course,  pursue  it  with  utter  carelessness 
of  the  quality  of  the  results  obtained.  Worse  than  this, 
however,  many  of  those  who  might  otherwise  become 
successful  classicists  are  so  handicapped  by  their  poor 
preparation  to  enter  college  that  they  never  can  fall  into 
their  proper  place  in  the  ranks.  Is  the  teacher  of  such 
a  class  of  college  students  to  bear  the  blame,  and  to  be 
accused  of  being  an  old  dry-as-dust  fogy,  if,  recognizing 
the  needs  of  the  minds  before  him,  he  heroically  turns 
back  from  the  pleasanter  paths  of  literary  enjoyment  and 
conducts  the  ranks  over  the  toilsome  grammatical  passes 
which  should  have  been  surmounted  long  before,  toward 
the  happy  hunting  grounds  of  the  classics  ? 

If  anybody  still  has  lingering  doubts  as  to  the  progres- 
sive spirit  that  animates  classical  teachers  and  teaching  of 
to-day,  let  him  examine  the  recent  textbooks  put  forth  by 
our  leading  publishers.  Let  him  compare  with  the  Caesars 
and  Ciceros  of  a  generation  ago  the  editions  now  in  vogue, 
with  their  wealth  of  illustrations,  maps,  plans,  and  general 
reading  matter,  so  ordered  that  there  passes  before  the 
pupil  a  continuous  picture  of  ancient  life,  represented  after 
the  style  of  the  modern  illustrated  weekly.  Let  him  enu- 
merate the  handy  editions  of  classical  authors  for  rapid 


A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS  43 

reading.  Let  him  notice  the  attractive  little  books  on  antiq- 
uities, mythology,  geography,  and  even  paleography,  that 
have  risen  up  to  deal  with  every  human  and  practical  side 
of  classical  study.  Meanwhile  let  him  not  fail  to  consider 
the  many  learned  and  exhaustive  works  setting  forth  the 
results  of  careful  research  on  the  part  of  American  classi- 
cal scholars.  Such  an  observation  will  convince  a  thought- 
ful mind  that  every  opportunity  is  being  sought  to  bestow 
upon  the  student  "  the  grace  and  glory  of  the  classics." 

.  But  classical  study  is  barren  of  results.  After  years 
of  such  study  the  college  graduate  has  no  good  working 
knowledge  of  Latin  and  Greek,  no  literary  appreciation  of 
their  charms,  no  command  of  the  languages ;  he  cannot 
sit  down  beside  the  evening  lamp  and  enjoy  reading  a 
book  of  Homer  or  an  epistle  of  Horace. 

Well,  how  is  it  in  our  own  language,  which  we  lisp  in 
the  cradle,  spell  out  in  the  primary  school,  declaim  vehe- 
mently before  snickering  mates  in  the  grammar  school, 
murder  cruelly  in  compositions  upon  Mary  Queen  of  Scots 
and  similar  subjects,  analyze  desperately  in  maze-like  dia- 
grams upon  the  blackboard,  dissect  learnedly  in  college 
language  and  literature  classes,  and  spout  triumphantly, 
before  fond  parents  and  our  best  girl,  on  the  glad  com- 
mencement rostrum  ?  Surely  after  that  experience  for  a 
score  of  years  with  one's  own  vernacular,  every  college 
graduate  should  be  a  master  of  English  !  Is  he  ?  Does  he 
handle  it  with  such  accuracy,  and  in  such  an  attractive  and 
convincing  way,  that  magazine  editors  fall  over  each  other 
in  their  haste  to  accept  his  contributions  ?  Has  he  an  apt 
quotation  from  Milton  and  Bacon  ever  at  his  tongue's  end  ? 
Can  he  read  entertainingly  and  explain  satisfactorily  to  a 


44  A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS 

company  of  friends  a  play  of  Marlowe,  an  ode  of  Keats, 
a  scene  from  "  Cymbeline,"  or  a  book  of  "  The  Excur- 
sion "  ?  When  he  sits  down  by  his  evening  lamp  does  he 
proceed  to  enjoy  a  Canterbury  Tale,  or  the  "  Essay  on 
Man,"  or  Burke's  "  Letters  to  a  Noble  Lord  "  ?  What 
means  the  plaint  of  the  examiners  at  America's  oldest 
university?  and  the  plague  of  articles  on  "methods  of 
teaching  English,"  so  burdensome  upon  the  editors  of 
our  educational  periodicals  ? 

In  point  of  fact,  however,  the  poverty  of  results  of  clas- 
sical education  is  not  nearly  so  striking  as  is  often  assumed. 
To  be  sure,  of  every  company  of  young  men  sent  out  into 
active  life,  whether  from  college,  university,  or  professional 
school,  only  a  small  minority  wins  celebrity,  although  the 
present  generation  is  much  quicker  to  recognize  and  appre- 
ciate certain  kinds  of  genius  than  others,  perhaps  no  less 
worthy^  It  may,  indeed,  be  admitted  that  the  majority  of 
our  college  graduates  have  forgotten  much  of  their  Latin 
and  Greek  soon  after  graduation  ;  but  that  is  a  fact  rather 
amusing  than  serious.  It  does  not  apply  any  more  to  the 
classical  languages  than  to  any  other  branch  of  knowledge. 
It  is  but  a  stale  platitude" to  say  that  people  forget  what 
they  do  not  take  pains  to  remember.  Within  three  years 
after  graduation  most  of  the  contents  of  every  book  studied 
in  the  whole  college  curriculum  has  ceased  to  be  a  part  of 
the  graduate's  working  knowledge.  It  is  as  true  of  chemis- 
try as  it  is  of  Greek,  as  true  of  German  as  it  is  of  Latin. 
But  it  does  not  follow  that  the  college  course  has  been  a 
failure,  or  that  the  books  forgotten  have  been  profitless  to 
the  student,  or  that  no  residuum  of  pure  culture  has  been 
left  in  the  mind.  If  Cicero  and  Theocritus  could  be 


A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS  45 

persuaded  to  forsake  the  charming  society  of  "the  houseboat 
on  the  Styx  "  long  enough  to  take  a  little  trip  to  New  York, 
they  would  doubtless  be  as  intelligently  entertained  in  the 
gorgeous  establishment  of  the  University  Club  as  would 
Voltaire,  or  Lessing,  or  Lavoisier,  or  Kant,  or  Chaucer. 
The  truth  is,  that  not  the  number  of  words,  or  sentences, 
or  rules,  or  dates,  or  formulas,  or  equations,  or  facts  of  any 
kind  which  the  graduate  has  retained  from  his  college  days 
is  the  criterion  by  which  to  judge  the  value  of  those  days 
to  him,  but  rather  the  amount  of  training  and  preparation 
his  four  years  have  given  him  to  wrestle  practically  and 
successfully  with  the  problems  that  will  occupy  his  attention 
as  an  educated  man.  Judged  by  this  criterion,  when  have 
the  classics  been  found  wanting  ? 

4.  But  classical  teaching  is  not  "  practical  "  !  It  does  n't 
train  the  young  mind  to  observe  the  phenomena  of  the 
external  world,  and  is  therefore  a  hindrance  to  the  scien- 
tific habit  of  thought.  It  doesn't  prepare  men  for  the 
mad  struggle  of  practical  life  in  this  age  even  as  well  as  / 
the  self-made  man  is  prepared. 

Of  course  a  "  self-made  man  "  is  a  noticeable  figure  any- 
where in  life,  be  he  poet,  novelist,  scientist,  statesman, 
merchant,  or  what  you  will.  But  it  is  a  cold,  hard  fact  that 
the  great  majority  of  the  most  successful  men  in  a  literary, 
scholarly,  scientific,  or  professional  way  are  the  very  men 
that  have  been  through  the  rigid  training  of  a  regular  clas-  / 
sical  course  of  study.  We  must  not  make  a  rule  out  of  an 
exception.  It  is  true  that  "  Grant  got  up  out  of  a  tanyard 
and  dealt  disaster  wherever  his  sword  fell."  Shall  we  then 
abolish  West  Point  and  go  to  establishing  tanyards  all  over 
the  country  ? 


46  A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS 

The  notion  that  classical  study  stunts  the  student's  power 
to  observe  natural  phenomena  is  based  on  absurd  logic. 
A.  B.  has  studied  the  classics.  A.  B.  shows  poor  facility 
in  the  observation  of  natural  phenomena.  Ergo,  classical 
study  is  a  hindrance  to  the  development  of  the  scientific 
mind  and  method  !  What  reason  is  there  to  suppose  that 
A.  B.  would  have  done  even  as  well  as  he  has  in  scientific 
study,  had  he  not  been  trained  to  habits  of  mental  accuracy 
in  observing  linguistic  phenomena  ?  Only  one  student  in 
many  is  satisfactory  to  a  teacher,  be  it  of  science  or  clas- 
sics. Why  throw  our  disappointment  back  on  somebody 
else  than  the  student  himself  ?  Non  omnes  omnia  possu- 
mus/s'Not  only  would  it  be  reasonable  to  suppose  on  a  pri- 
ori grounds  that  the  student  trained  to  distinguish  fine 
points  of  Latin  grammar  would  be  so  much  the  better  pre- 
pared to  see  what  a  test  tube  or  a  vivisection  might  reveal ; 
but  also,  many  of  those  who  have  had  the  best  chance  to 
put  such  a  theory  to  the  test  have  found  it  realized  in  expe- 
rience. In  Germany,  where  a  severe  classical  training  of 
many  years  in  the  gymnasia  precedes  a  university  course, 
leading  scientists  have  often  complained  that  the  training 
of  students  who  desired  to  work  with  them  was  still  imper- 
fect in  the  matter  of  Latin  grammar,  and  have  urged  the 
maintenance  of  a  full  course  in  Greek  as  a  requirement 
for  entrance  to  the  university  in  all  cases.  Hofmann,  the 
celebrated  chemist  of  the  University  of  Berlin,  expressed 
his  views  thus : 

The  ideality  of  academical  study,  the  unselfish  devotion  to  science 
as  science,  the  free  exercise  of  thought,  —  both  the  condition  and  the 
result  of  this  devotion, — recede  in  proportion  as  the  classic  basis,  such 
as  the  gymnasium  furnishes  as  propaedeutics  for  the  university,  is 
withdrawn. 


A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS  47 

"  Practical "  ?  What  is  the  meaning  of  that  much-abused 
word  in  such  a  contention  ?  In  the  narrower  sense,  for  the 
mass  of  mankind  nothing  much  except  "  the  three  R's  "  is 
included.  Is  geometry  "practical "  for  most  men  ?  or  conic 
sections  ?  In  the  strict  interpretation  of  the  word,  no.  Not 
one  graduate  in  a  score  makes  any  direct  use  of  either 
after  leaving  college.  Shall  we  then  drop  all  mathematics 
higher  than  arithmetic  from  our  college  curricula  and  insert 
something  more  "practical"  ?  If  so,  what  shall  it  be,  judged 
by  a  similar  standard  ?  Shall  it  be  geology  or  psychology  ? 
If  you  think  German  might  fill  the  bill,  imagine  your  grad- 
uate trying  to  talk  with  a  native  of  Berlin.  As  for  history, 
the  least  sense  of  humor  would  prevent  anybody  from  sug- 
gesting that,  in  the  midst  of  the  general  apparent  inability 
in  the  United  States  to  apply  the  lessons  of  history  to  the 
"  imperialism  "  movement. 

There  is  a  broader  and  better  sense,  however,  in  which 
all  of  these  subjects  of  study  have  their  immense  practical 
value.  They  help  make  life  worth  living,  and  they  help  man 
to  live  a  worthy  life.  And  among  all  the  subjects  that  tend 
to  develop  what  is  best  in  human  life  and  character,  a  fore- 
most place  must  surely  be  assigned  to  the  ancient  classic 
languages  and  literatures ;  for,  by  their  disciplinary  value 
and  their  cosmopolitan  interest,  they  give  any  man  power 
to  read,  listen,  and  talk  intelligently,  interestingly,  and  prof- 
itably, and  a  man  thus  equipped  can  defy  the  world  to 
prevent  his  highest  usefulness  and  personal  enjoyment. 

The  classics  deserve  a  fair  chance.  What,  then,  do  they 
need,  in  order  to  have  it  ?  In  the  first  place,  more  time 
and  patience  should  be  allotted  to  the  early  stages  of  clas- 
sical study.  The  tendencies  of  the  age  in  America  are 


48  A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS 

toward  living  quickly,  brilliantly,  easily.  We  should  like  to 
"  strike  a  bonanza  "  in  Latin  grammar,  to  open  a  rich  vein 
in  Greek  lyric  poetry,  to  invent  an  electrical  memorizer, 
which  would  cram  rules  and  dates  into  us  without  any 
severer  effort  on  our  part  than  pressing  a  button.  We  are 
in  such  a  hurry  to  erect  the  stately  fagade  of  our  classical 
edifice  that  we  have  no  time  to  lay  any  foundation  for  it. 
Some  people  have  even  taken  seriously  the  so-called  "  Six 
Weeks'  Preparation  for  Reading  Caesar  "  !  Why  does  n't 
somebody  invent  a  six  weeks'  "  preparation  "  for  a  col- 
lege presidency  or  for  the  ambassadorship  at  the  court  of 
St.  James  ?  Of  course  Caesar  may  be  studied  by  anybody, 
at  any  time,  with  or  without  any  preparation  ;  but  a  prepa- 
ration for  it,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word,  cannot  be 
gained  in  six  weeks,  —  usually  not  in  six  months. 

Quickness,  mental  acumen,  and  tact  will  accomplish 
much,  but  they  can  never  entirely  supersede  hard  work. 
Why  are  the  Germans  the  leaders  in  classical  scholarship  ? 
Are  their  sons  more  gifted  than  the  youth  of  America  ? 
No !  our  boys  are  in  many  ways  quicker  and  more  ener- 
getic than  their  German  cousins.  We  play  "good  ball,"  we 
sing  "  cute "  songs,  we  invent  innumerable  methods  of 
making  school  life  gay  and  attractive,  and  of  "  getting  out 
of  "  required  duties ;  in  short,  we  seem  to  have  a  genius 
for  almost  everything  except  steady,  patient,  hard  work. 
There  the  Germans  get  ahead  of  us,  being  put  through 
long  and  severe  discipline  in  the  principles  of  the  classics 
from  childhood,  so  that  in  the  university  they  are  ready  for 
real  university  work,  while  our  college  professors  must 
often  spend  time  and  strength  in  listening  to  mere  recita- 
tions, and  in  beating  into  listless  heads  common  principles 


A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS  49 

which  ought  to  be  thoroughly  mastered  in  the  preparatory 
school.  It  is  no  milk-and-water  diet  which  is  administered 
to  the  German  boy  in  the  gymnasium.  His  first  two  or 
three  years  in  Latin  are  devoted  almost  entirely  to  steady 
grammatical  drill,  before  any  considerable  amount  of  read- 
ing is  undertaken.  Upon  this  solid  and  indestructible  basis 
he  rears  such  a  structure  of  acquaintance  with  Roman  lit- 
erature that  before  he  leaves  the  gymnasium  he  has  read 
more  Latin,  read  it  more  intelligently,  and  read  a  greater 
variety  of  authors,  than  have  most  American  graduates. 
The  conditions  are  similar  in  Greek. 

The  young  American,  however,  on  entering  a  prepara- 
tory school,  is  rushed  through  a  Latin  lesson  book  and 
some  elementary  grammatical  principles  in  from  four  to  six 
months.  He  then  plunges  into  Caesar,  —  an  author  whose 
pages  bristle  with  tremendous  difficulties  for  a  beginner,  — 
and  spends  a  few  weary  months  wrestling  with  the  mys- 
teries of  participial  constructions  and  the  "  indirect  dis- 
course," all  the  while  painfully  conscious  that  he  must 
"  hurry  "  if  he  wishes  to  get  ready  for  college  within  the 
brief  allotted  time.  He  then  attacks  the  greatest  epic  of  the 
Romans  and  their  greatest  orator.  After  "finishing"  them, 
sandwiching  in  a  short  course  in  Roman  history  and  a 
pitiful  smattering  of  Latin  composition,  having  performed 
a  series  of  similar  operations  in  Greek  on  an  even  smaller 
scale,  perhaps  he  pursues  a  year  or  two  of  work  in  the  clas- 
sics in  some  college,  and  in  the  majority  of  cases  then  turns 
away  from  Latin  and  Greek  forever,  to  devote  his  attention 
to  a  multiplicity  of  other  subjects.  Even  such  a  hasty  and 
careless  course  has  doubtless  been  profitable  in  many  ways  ; 
but  what  wonder  if  it  has  failed  to  give  the  student  a 


50  A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS 

masterly  acquaintance  with  the  matchless  civilization  and 
culture  of  Athens  and  Rome  ?  Where  is  the  reason  in 
spending  year  after  year  in  repeated  drill  upon  the  elemen- 
tary principles  of  arithmetic  and  one's  native  tongue,  and 
then  imagining  that  a  complex  language,  far  more  alien 
to  an  American  boy's  natural  mental  processes,  can  be 
successfully  handled  in  half  the  length  of  time  ?  It  was  a 
most  encouraging  experiment  made  in  the  public  schools 
of  Chicago,  where  a  six  years'  course  in  Latin  was  reported 
as  working  very  well,  and  with  advantage  to  other  courses 
of  study.  A  preparatory  course  of  not  less  than  six  years 
should  become  universal  at  no  distant  day. 

Secondly,  the  classics  need  a  material  equipment  and 
financial  support  commensurate  with  that  afforded  scien- 
tific schools  and  investigations.  The  old-fashioned  idea  of 
a  school  was  that  of  a  bench  with  a  pupil  upon  it,  a  desk 
with  a  teacher  behind  it,  and  a  textbook,  which  the  pupil 
studied  and  then  handed  to  the  teacher,  who  heard  him 
recite.  The  laboratories,  museums,  and  apparatus  of  the 
present  indicate  how  entirely  that  conception  has  been 
banished  from  the  world  of  science  and  the  teaching  of 
science ;  but  many  people  seem  to  imagine  that  the  equip- 
ment of  the  olden  days  is  still  good  enough  for  the  classics, 
—  that  there  is  no  special  need  of  any  modern  work- 
shop or  first-class  tools.  In  comparison  with  the  technical 
schools,  the  magnificent  buildings,  the  extensive  appliances, 
for  scientific  investigation,  the  opportunities  for  doing  good 
work  in  the  classics  are  yet  meager.  How  rarely  do  we  find 
adequate  special  buildings,  libraries,  and  collections  repre- 
senting the  art,  architecture,  antiquities,  epigraphy,  paleog- 
raphy, of  the  ancient  world  !  How  many  institutions  place 


A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS  51 

before  their  students  the  current  literature  on  classical 
subjects  ?  How  many  really  first-class  classical  libraries 
are  there  in  the  United  States  ?  How  many  thoroughly 
satisfactory  archaeological  museums  do  we  find  ? 

The  ideal  classical  school  would  have  the  most  complete 
buildings,  libraries,  and  museums,  and  the  most  learned 
and  progressive  classical  scholars  to  direct  its  work.  It 
would  spare  no  expense  to  obtain  not  only  all  available 
archaeological  relics  of  whatever  sort,  and  ancient  manu- 
scripts, but  also  casts,  copies,  and  photographs  of  everything 
that  could  not  be  secured  in  the  original.  Its  students 
would  not  only  be  led  up  to  the  most  valuable  kinds  of 
original  investigation  in  the  school  itself,  but  would  also 
have  wide  opportunity  to  bring  back  to  it  the  results  of 
such  new  investigations  and  discoveries  in  foreign  lands 
as  the  funds  thus  provided  had  enabled  them  to  make. 
Under  the  guidance  of  the  directors  of  the  school,  archae- 
ological expeditions  would  be  fitted  out  from  time  to  time 
to  explore  various  yet  untried  fields.  The  results  of  this 
work  would  be  published  at  regular  intervals,  and  the 
importance  attaching  to  such  publications  would  be  equal 
to  that  conceded  to  the  learned  utterances  of  any  educa- 
tional institution  in  the  world.  If  our  college  men  could  be 
looking  forward  to  entering  such  a  school  after  the  achieve- 
ment of  the  bachelor's  degree,  much  of  the  so-called 
"  odium  classicum  "  would  speedily  become  a  myth. 

Do  you  say  that  such  an  ideal  is  unattainable  ?  Why  so  ? 
What  is  to  hinder  the  establishment  of  a  few  such  great 
classical  schools  for  advanced  work,  and  the  reflection  in 
miniature  of  their  spirit,  methods,  and  influence  in  every 
other  classical  school  in  the  country  ?  Money  will  build 


52  A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS 

buildings,  hire  specialists,  buy  books,  coins,  and  the  vari- 
ous antiques  that  are  on  the  market.  There  is  plenty  of 
ancient  pottery  still  lying  underground,  and  many  buried 
cities  are  yet  waiting  to  surrender  to  the  spade  their  won- 
drous works  of  art.  Money  will  fit  out  expeditions  to 
secure  these,  as  it  has  in  England,  France,  and  Germany, 
and  more  recently  in  the  United  States  under  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Archaeological  Institute.  Money  will  procure  a 
complete  collection  of  casts  of  all  the  important  remains  of 
ancient  sculpture,  like  that  in  the  Berlin  Museum,  scientif- 
ically catalogued  for  the  student's  use.  Is  there  a  scarcity 
of  money  in  America  for  such  purposes  ?  Certainly  not, 
provided  the  characteristic  American  liberality  is  aroused 
by  the  proper  enthusiasm. 

This  brings  us,  finally,  to  the  third  great  need  of  the  classics 
in  America,  —  enthusiastic  support  on  the  part  of  pupils, 
of  parents,  and  of  the  public.  A  considerable  part  of  the 
American  people  seem  to  regard  the  classics  in  a  manner 
exactly  corresponding  to  a  definition  of  a  deponent  verb 
once  given  to  the  writer,  that  is,  as  something  possessing 
"  passive  form  and  active  insignificance  " !  A  similar  spirit 
of  unappreciative  indifference  led  men  in  the  Middle  Ages 
to  despise  the  stately  marble  forms  of  ancient  Roman  art 
as  worthy  of  no  better  fate  than  the  limekiln  —  a  very  ab- 
surd idea,  no  doubt,  from  our  standpoint ;  but  from  theirs, 
intensely  "  practical." 

The  "  almighty-dollar  "  temper  of  the  age  and  the  peo- 
ple tremendously  retards  classical  culture  in  America.  Boys 
and  men  chafe  under  the  long  restraint  of  classical  study, 
and  are  in  haste  to  devote  their  attention  to  something 
that  requires  less  patience  and  produces  results  apparently 


A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS  53 

more  tangible,  —  something  that  will  bring  them  rapidly  to 
wealth  and  fame.  Parents  want  their  sons  to  make  money  ; 
the  public  honors  the  man  with  the  large  bank  account, 
and  he  is  the  popular  ideal  of  the  man  that  has  "  got  there." 
Science  opens  many  avenues  to  material  success.  The 
work  leads  quickly  into  unexplored  country,  where  new  dis- 
coveries are  to  be  made  and  original  investigation  will  tell, 
while  the  fields  of  classical  study  have  been  longer  culti- 
vated and  progress  is  more  deliberate.  Science  is  almost 
daily  revealing  new  life,  new  laws,  new  facts,  new  means 
to  improve  the  material  comforts  of  life.  Our  broad  land 
offers  abundant  subjects  for  scientific  investigation,  and 
no  munificence  has  been  lacking  to  develop  these  natural  . 
opportunities.  Moreover,  "  there  is  money  in  it,"  often 
very  rapidly  acquired.  There  are  railroads  to  be  built,  elec- 
tricity to  be  subdued  for  our  use,  farming  to  be  made  more 
profitable,  mines  to  be  opened,  machinery  to  be  invented, 
medical  and  surgical  skill  to  be  perfected,  and  practical 
politicians  to  be  trained.  No  such  wide  range  of  immedi- 
ate possibilities  for  activity  stretches  out  before  the  classi- 
cal student,  nor  is  he  likely  to  become  rich  as  a  scholar^ 
And  so  the  type  of  Horace's  Roman  boy,  Albinus,  has  re- 
appeared in  these  United  States ;  he  can  reckon  minute 
fractions  of  interest  and  profit  in  dollars,  cents,  and  mills ; 
but  the  gangrene  of  covetousness  is  eating  out  his  life. 
Meanwhile  the  words  of  Arlo  Bates  with  reference  to  the 
classics  in  general  are  equally  true  of  the  ancient  classics 
in  particular : 

For  wise,  wholesome,  and  comprehensive  living  there  is  no  better 
aid  than  a  familiar,  intimate,  sympathetic  knowledge  of  the  clas- 
sics. .  .  .  For  him  who  prefers  the  outlook  of  the  earthworm  to  that 


54  A  FAIR  CHANCE  FOR  THE  CLASSICS 

of  the  eagle,  the  classics  have  no  message  and  no  meaning.  For 
him  who  is  not  content  with  any  view  save  the  highest,  these  are  the 
mountain  peaks  which  lift  to  the  highest  and  noblest  sight. 

A  boy  doesn't  ordinarily  discern  much  usefulness  in 
Latin  and  Greek,  any  more  than  he  does  in  music,  or 
painting,  or  poetry.  The  parent,  who  sees  much  farther 
than  the  child,  owes  it  to  him,  then,  to  direct  his  enthu- 
siastic anticipation  toward  the  more  remote,  but  also  more 
lasting,  advantages  of  classical  study.  The  man  of  wealth, 
who  sighs,  when  it  is  too  late,  for  the  culture  that  would 
make  possible  a  higher  enjoyment  of  his  wealth,  should  see 
to  it  that  the  younger  generation  has  the  benefit  not  only 
of  his  experience  but  also  of  some  of  his  thousands,  to 
make  classical  study  attractive.  No  nation  is  more  richly 
endowed  than  our  own  with  the  financial  resources,  the 
intellectual  forces,  and  the  delicate  sensibilities  necessary 
for  appreciating  and  appropriating  the  ennobling  ideality 
of  classical  study.  It  remains  only  for  America  to  awake 
fully  to  the  importance  of  the  responsibility  thus  placed 
upon  her,  and,  with  the  same  characteristic  eagerness  that 
has  enabled  her  already  to  occupy  many  of  the  strongholds 
of  civilization,  to  seize  and  hold  the  most  exalted  position 
in  classical  scholarship,  establishing  an  empire  of  culture 
broader  and  more  lasting  than  any  whose  existence  history 
has  ever  yet  chronicled. 


THE  "LATINITY"  FETISH 

As  a  working  definition,  a  "  fetish  "  may  be  described 
as  an  object  of  superstitious  reverence.  Although  Lowell 
exhibited  no  semasiological  accuracy  in  explaining  super- 
stition as  a  survival  of  a  worn-out  form  of  belief,  the  actual 
use  of  the  word  in  that  sense  is  often  very  cojwemeiti/ 
The  veneration  of  a  fetish  begins  to  wane  either  when^t 
is  shown  to  be  intrinsically  less  worthy  of  such  veneration 
than  was  supposed,  or  when  the  march  of  progress  makes 
it  ill  adapted  to  present  conditions.  The  contention  of  this 
essay  is  that  the  particular  fetish  mentioned  in  its  title 
should,  for  both  the  foregoing  reasons,  at  least  claim  a 
smaller  share  of  attention  than  it  has  been  hitherto  awarded. 

Any  living  organism  is  undergoing  constant  change. 
Some  things  are  being  sloughed  off  and  some  new  tissue 
is  growing.  A  granite  rock  is  a  very  respectable  mass  of 
matter ;  it  has,  however,  no  vital  force.  But  neither  a 
pansy  nor  a  man  is  ever  exactly  the  same  on  any  two  suc- 
cessive days.  Nor  are  any  two  pansy  blossoms  exactly  alike. 
The  glory  of  each  living  organism  is  in  its  individuality. 
A  language  is  a  living  thing  so  long  as  it  is  undergoing 
constant  change,  and  as  people  use  it  with  the  freedom  and 
variety  of  individuality.  When  its  form  becomes  rigid  and 
its  aspect  is  the  same  from  every  point  of  view,  it  is  dead. 
From  Plautus  to  Horace  and  from  Cato  to  Livy  was  a  far 
cry ;  but  the  space  was  full  of  the  rushing  life  of  Roman 
thought,  corresponding  to  the  ever-changing  life  of  the 

55 


56  THE  "LATINITY"  FETISH 

people  and  the  state.  In  the  heyday  of  Roman  comedy  no- 
body had  discovered  the  fatal  secret  that  its  master  might 
be  guilty  of  Plautinity.  The  Empire  was  just  rising  on  the 
ruins  of  the  Republic  when  the  cry  of  "Patavinity"  was 
raised.  Henceforth  the  attempt  to  freeze  poetry  into  the 
mold  of  the  Vergilian  style,  and  prose  into  that  of  Cicero's 
stately  products,  resulted  in  a  lifeless  and  monotonous  feast 
of  reason  and  flow  of  soul.  Not  only  was  the  substance 
more  and  more  lacking  in  the  qualities  that  nourish,  but  it 

En  came  to  have  too  little  body  to  maintain  even  the  de- 
;d  form,  and  the  artificial  literature  of  high  "  Latinity  " 
fell,  a  flimsy  fragment,  a  shell  without  a  kernel. 

Here  and  there,  however,  an  independent,  a  free  lance 
in  literature,  struck  out  a  new  form  and  spoke  a  new  mes- 
sage, and  the  spark  of  literary  life  flamed  up  again.  Petro- 
nius  was  more  careless  of  literary  conventionalities  than  the 
proverbial  Gallic ;  and  we  turn  to  him  with  a  sigh  of  relief, 
our  minds  jaded  with  the  elaborate  imitations  of  his  con- 
temporary, Persius.  And  if  the  truth  should  be  told  about 
Seneca,  that  other  strange  product  of  the  same  brilliantly 
wicked  age  of  Nero,  do  we  most  relish  his  stately  experi- 
ments in  imitating  the  antiquated  tragedies  of  the  Greeks ; 
or  his  attempt  to  atone,  with  a  theoretical  philosophy  of  life, 
for  his  practical  violation  of  the  principles  he  sets  forth  at 
such  length  ;  or  the  unconventional  diatribe  upon  the  dead 
Claudius,  in  which  he  throws  form  to  the  winds  and  we  see 
the  heart  of  the  man  and  the  hateful  world  in  which  he 
lives  ?  There  was  no  other  Cicero,  no  Vergil  the  second, 
no  Horace  the  third.  But  with  the  decay  of  old  faiths  and 
the  growth  of  the  new  world-religion  of  Christianity  there 
came  in  a  new  prose  and  poetry  which  had  its  own  great 


THE  "LATINITY"  FETISH  57 

truth  to  tell  in  its  own  way.  And  on  through  the  centuries 
of  the  Middle  Ages  there  were  those  in  Italy,  in  Gaul,  in 
Spain,  in  England,  in  Germany,  who  in  history,  or  con- 
troversy, or  didactic  verse,  or  song,  sacred  or  secular,  had 
each  his  message  for  the  world. 

Why  have  we  not  continued  to  read  these  best  examples 
of  Latin,  written  not  merely  a  century  or  two  just  before 
and  after  the  Christian  era,  but  during  the  last  two  millen- 
niums ?  Because  the  specter  of  "  Latinity  "  has  been  omni- 
present. For  a  while  previous  to  the  revival  of  learning 
this  ghost  was  apparently  laid ;  but,  with  the  coming  of 
Petrarch  and  the  renaissance  of  classical  ideals  and  the  new 
worship  of  classical  forms,  Latin  was  slain  in  the  house  of 
its  friends.  Six  centuries  have  passed  away  since  the  birth 
of  Petrarch,  and  the  slow  pendulum  of  literary  esteem  may 
be  discerned  moving  back  toward  a  more  universal  appre- 
ciation of  all  that  is  good  in  Latin  literature.  For  some 
time  collections  of  patristic  Latin  and  of  the  best  of  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  century  Latin  literature  have  been 
in  progress  of  publication  on  the  continent  of  Europe.  A 
recent  volume  of  that  popular  collection  of  books  of  Weis- 
heit  itnd  Schonheit,  published  in  the  German  language  at 
Stuttgart,  consists  of  tales  and  satires  translated  from  the 
Latin.  Of  these  only  a  few  from  Apuleius,  Petronius,  and 
Prudentius  belong  to  that  field  of  Roman  literature  where 
"  Latinity"  is  supposed  to  hold  sway  ;  while  the  bulk  of  the 
book  is  made  up  of  stories  by  Notker  of  St.  Gall,  satires 
of  Amarcius,  and  selections  from  Wirecker,  Gervasius, 
Eberhardus,  Teutonicus,  and  from  the  "  Dialogus  Miracu- 
lorum  "  of  Caesar  of  Heisterbach.  Mr.  Percy  Ure,  in  a 
recent  issue  of  the  Classical  Review,  after  reviewing  the 


58  THE  "LATINITY"  FETISH 

new  volume  of  "  Die  Kultur  der  Gegenwart,"  which  deals 
with  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages  and  literatures,  feels 
moved  to  fall  into  line  with  Wilamowitz  and  the  other  au- 
thors of  that  book,  and  asks  :  "  Ought  we  not  in  England 
to  extend  our  curricula,  at  least  in  the  seats  of  higher  edu- 
cation ?  Is  it  desirable  that  our  university  students  (and 
lecturers  ?)  should  practically  never  read  anything  written 
in  Greek  after  Theocritus,  or  in  Latin  after  Tacitus  ? " 
Two  or  three  of  our  American  preparatory  Latin  textbooks 
have  rather  timidly  ventured  into  the  broader  field  in  their 
selection  of  passages  to  be  read  by  the  young  student  in 
the  early  stages  of  his  acquaintance  with  the  language.  But 
the  consultation  of  college  catalogues  will  show  but  slight 
opportunity  as  yet  for  more  advanced  students  to  go  out- 
side the  sacred  inclosure  dominated  by  the  Latinity  fetish. 
Why  should  we  longer  hold  fast  to  the  tradition  of  the 
Pharisaical  elders  who  began  to  exalt  "  Latinity  "  thus,  only 
after  the  palmy  days  of  Latinity  were  gone  ?  To  Cicero  "La- 
tinity "  was  the  avoidance  of  solecisms  and  of  barbarisms, 
not  a  comparison  of  all  Latin  with  his  own  orations  and 
with  the  journal  of  the  Gallic  campaigns  of  his  contempo- 
rary, Julius  Caesar.  Pray  where  did  Horace,  with  his  curios  a 
felicitas,  and  his  dainty  aroma  of  the  cedar  in  which  for 
years  had  lain  his  unfinished  product,  waiting  for  the  ulti- 
mate file,  learn  Latin  ?  Why,  forsooth,  from  a  crude  trans- 
lation of  a  Greek  poem  made  by  a  Greek  slave  before  there 
were  any  standards  of  Latinity  or  any  Latin  literature  to 
which  to  apply  them !  Yet  the  Grecisms,  and  archaisms, 
and  colloquialisms,  and  juicelessness  of  Livius  Andronicus, 
though  so  laboriously  flogged  into  Flaccus  by  Orbilius  the 
plagosusy  apparently  did  him  no  harm,  while  Orbilius  never 


THE  "LATINITY"  FETISH  59 

stopped  to  Consider  their  serious  defects  from  the  purists' 
standpoint  of  Latinity.  When  Horace  railed  at  the  care- 
lessness of  Lucilius,  did  he  cease  to  read  him  because  of 
his  bad  Latinity,  or  did  he  rather  imitate  his  good  points 
and  avoid  his  faults  ?  The  grammar  of  Plautus  and  his 
diction  are  as  far  removed  from  the  Latinity  of  Livy  as 
Livy's  is  from  that  of  Ausonius ;  but  the  critics  did  not 
stop  reading  Plautus  in  the  days  of  Livy.  By  the  time  of 
Priscian  a  couplet  of  Pacuvius  might  be  cited  to  illustrate 
a  grammatical  curiosity,  while  in  Cicero  the  same  passage 
might  be  quoted  for  its  literary  value.  Was  Pacuvius  to 
be  ruled  out  of  the  classical  galaxy  because  he  used  incur- 
vicervicus  and  prolixitudo,  matresco  and  taetro,  and  be- 
cause nearly  one  half  of  his  experiments  in  word  formation 
failed  to  meet  with  the  permanent  approval  of  the  Roman 
literary  world  ?  Did  anybody  shy  at  Lucretius  because  he 
refused  to  be  universally  orthodox  or  consistent  in  his  treat- 
ment of  prepositions  and  infinitives,  because  his  poetry  was 
sometimes  prosaic,  and  because  he  preferred  to  end  his 
hexameters  in  ponderous  polysyllables  ? 

Quintilian 's  cautiousness  in  regard  to  the  alleged  "  Pata- 
vinity"  of  Livy  is  worthy  of  our  emulation.  "Asinius 
Pollio,"  says  he,  "thinks  that  a  kind  of  Patavinity  is  to 
be  found  in  Titus  Livy,  in  spite  of  his  amazing  fluency." 
What,  by  the  way,  would  Pollio  have  said  to  that  word, 
facundia,  used  here  by  Quintilian  ?  For  neither  Livy, 
Cicero,  nor  Caesar  ever  ventured  to  write  it.  Surely  to 
the  fastidious  Pollio  it  would  have  been  conclusive  proof 
of  the  hopeless  provincialism  of  its  Spanish-born  friend, 
an  instance  of  rank  Calagurritanity  !  Once  more  we  hear 
Quintilian  speaking  of  the  famous  criticism,  when  he  says 


60  THE  "LATINITY"  FETISH 

that  while  Pollio  detects  Patavinity  in  Livy,  for  his  part 
everything  Italian  is  Roman,  as  contrasted  with  any  real 
barbarism.  Which  of  us  has  been  able  to  detect  Livy's 
Patavinity  ?  Quintilian  evidently  could  not.  Nor  did  he 
think  the  attempt  worth  while,  for  toward  the  close  of 
the  same  paragraph  he  enunciates  the  universal  truth 
which  should  still  have  recognition  :  sed  auctoritatem 
consuetudo  superavit.  And  in  the  ever-changing  form  of 
the  Latin  language  there  has  ever  been,  of  course,  a 
present  "custom"  which  justly  overrode  "tradition." 

Why,  then,  should  we  slight  Boethius  or  elevate  our 
eyebrows  at  mention  of  Aulus  Gellius  ?  Why  need  we  be 
ashamed  to  delve  into  the  Church  Fathers  or  to  read  The 
Venerable  Bede  ?  Why  not  give  even  younger  students 
selections  from  Einhard's  "Life  of  Charlemagne,"  from 
the  hymns  of  the  Church,  from  the  declamations  of  Me- 
lanchthon,  from  the  colloquies  of  Erasmus,  from  the  great 
mass  of  lyric  and  dramatic  Latin  poetry  which  European 
scholars  have  thrown  off  on  occasion  during  the  last 
fifteen  centuries  ? 

I  take  up  Gellius  to  see  wherein  consist  his  sins  against 
Latinity,  why  it  would  be  dangerous  to  bring  up  boys  on 
his  anecdotes,  and  open  at  his  tale  of  Fabricius  and  the 
gift  offered  him  by  the  Samnites  (1.14).  The  first  thing 
that  causes  one  to  stop  is  the  use  of  familia  in  the  sense 
of  "  property."  But  this  goes  back  to  the  Twelve  Tables, 
and  was  considered  good  usage  by  Cicero.  Tamquam  in- 
troducing an  assigned  reason  was  good  Latinity  in  the 
eyes  of  Tacitus.  The  collocation  redditam  pacem  can  be 
charged  with  nothing  more  serious  than  being  a  token  of 
the  author's  individuality.  The  purpose  dative  dono  used 


THE  "LATINITY"  FETISH  6 1 

alone,  with  obtulisse,  is  also  along  the  natural  line  of  de- 
velopment according  to  Tacitean  standards.  The  phrase 
lautum  paratum  esse  is  one  in  which  paratum  appears  to 
be  used  as  a  substantive  with  the  force  of  apparatum.  If 
we  grant  this  at  once,  without  arguing  the  question  of  the 
text  or  of  other  possible  explanations,  grammatically  speak- 
ing, we  have  indeed  a  phenomenon  unparalleled  perhaps  in 
the  "  Golden  Age,"  but  not  unlike  many  a  substantive  used 
in  the  generations  following  that  age.  Finally,  though 
propterea  alone  is  less  common,  and  looks  forward  more 
often  than  back,  its  use  in  the  latter  sense  is  classical  from 
the  time  of  Terence.  Surely  the  immature  mind,  under 
the  direction  of  a  competent  teacher,  runs  no  risk  of  being 
radically  corrupted  in  ideals  of  Latinity  while  reading  this 
neat  little  anecdote  of  Gellius. 

Or  I  turn  to  a  paragraph  of  Erasmus,  in  his  story  of 
the  priest,  the  vendor,  and  the  impostor ;  and  now  the 
purists  vociferate,  " Procul,  o procul  este,  profani!"  But 
with  rash  persistence  I  read : 

Sacrificus  quidam  receperat  mediocrem  summam  pecuniae,  sed 
argenteae.  Id  impostor  quidam  animadverterat.  Adiit  sacrificum,  qui 
gestabat  in  zona  crumenam  nummis  turgidam ;  salutat  civiliter  ;  nar- 
rat  sibi  datum  negotium,  etc. 

Here,  to  be  sure,  is  a  different  atmosphere.  We  note  the 
loose,  narrative  style,  but  must  not  fail  to  recall  Terence's 
similar  manner  in  the  "  Andria,"  for  example.  We  admit 
promptly  that  sacrificiis,  impostor^r^parochus,  in  the  sense 
used  here,  are  nonclassical ;  that  commodare  with  such  an 
object  as  tantillum  operae  is  comparatively  modern  ;  that 
vehementer  congruere  and  mire  congruere,  referring  to  well- 
fitting  clothes,  sound  a  little  like  the  present-day  German 


62  THE  "LATINITY"  FETISH 

slang  use  of  kolossal  I  But  how  often  Lucretius  and 
Cicero  felt  constrained  to  apologize  for  the  new  words  and 
new  meanings  of  words  which  their  subjects  demanded ! 
And  was  not  in  his  own  day  and  generation  a  living 
Erasmus  better  than  a  dead  Marcus  Tullius  ? 

I  glance  at  a  convenient  edition  of  Gnaphey's  "  Acolas- 
tus,"  the  Latin  play  on  the  story  of  the  prodigal  son,  first 
published  nearly  four  hundred  years  ago  at  Antwerp,  and 
I  see  eight  pages  of  closely  printed  references  to  passages 
in  classical  writers  used  by  the  author.  Surely  a  scholar  so 
saturated  with  the  spirit  of  the  ancients  ought  to  be  able, 
in  dealing  with  so  interesting  and  suitable  a  subject,  to 
teach  a  reader  some  good  Latin  and  not  utterly  to  ruin  his 
appreciation  of  classical  Latinity  ! 

Or  at  random  I  read  one  of  the  lyrics  of  Joannes 
Posthius,  entitled  "  De  Suo  Amore  "  : 

luppiter  horrendo  contristans  frigore  caelum 

Sarmatico  largas  fundit  ab  axe  nives, 
Nostra  tamen  rapidis  uruntur  pectora  flammis, 

Nee  minuunt  ignes  f rigora  tanta  meos ; 
Quin  magis  accendunt  etiam  (quis  credere  possit  ?), 

Et  gelida  flagrans  de  nive  crescit  amor. 
Nunc  etenim  recolo  mecum,  ut  mea  saepe  puella 

De  nive  compactis  luserit  ante  pilis. 
Nix,  f ateor,  primes  mihi  conciliavit  amores : 

Hinc  eadem  flammas  auget  alitque  meas. 

Where  in  all  Latin  literature  shall  we  look  for  a  more 
dainty  conceit  or  for  more  unimpeachable  Latin  ?  At 
sound  of  it  the  "  Gradus  ad  Parnassum  "  and  the  "  Anti- 
barbarus  "  exchange  significant  glances,  relapse  into  their 
most  complacent  smile,  and  make  no  move  at  all  to 
descend  from  the  shelf. 


THE  "  LATINITY  "  FETISH  63 

v'  The  truth  of  it  is  that  the  Latin  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury A.D.,  or  even  of  the  nineteenth,  is  more  like  that  of  the 
second  century  B.C.  than  the  English  of  to-day  is  like 
the  English  of  a  period  one  quarter  as  long  ago.  ^  The 
artificial  form  of  the  champions  of  literary  conservatism 
has,  to  be  sure,  long  since  lost  some  of  its  potency.  But 
it  was  as  foolish  to  try  to  maintain  Cicero's  style  after  the 
death  of  its  master  as  it  was  to  attempt  the  continuance  of 
the  republican  constitution  after  the  life  of  the  Roman 
republic  was  gone.  Cato  and  Cicero  perished  in  the  use- 
less struggle  against  the  politically  inevitable  ;  and  the  best 
inspiration  of  Roman  literature  perished  in  the  struggle 
against  the  stylistically  inevitable. 

''  How  long  must  we  go  on  sacrificing  youthful  enthusi- 
asm on  the  altars  of  a  similar  conservatism  in  the  worship 
of  the  Latinity  fetish  ?  Granting  that  Caesar,  Cicero,  and 
Vergil  are  the  best  models  of  Latinity,  can  we  claim  that 
the  centuries  have  shown  that  the  youthful  mind  waxes 
enthusiastic  over  them,  appreciates  them,  and  assimilates 
their  style,  as  shown  by  their  Latin  prose  composition 
exercises  ?  What  would  you  think  of  the  pedagogical  wis- 
dom of  a  teacher  who  should  introduce  a  beginner  into 
English  by  making  him  read  blocks  of  from  twenty-five 
to  fifty  lines  a  day,  for  several  years,  of  Macaulay's  "  His- 
tory of  England,"  Burke's  speeches,  and  Milton's  "  Para- 
dise Lost "  ?  Do  we  insist  on  Shakespeare  for  babes  ?  Do 
our  modern-language  contemporaries  begin  with  "  Faust " 
and  "  William  Tell  "  ?  Oh,  no  !  They  smear  with  honey 
the  edges  of  the  bitter  cup  and  coaxingly  inquire,  "  Do 
you  see  the  great  green  goggles  of  my  red-coated  aunt 
in  the  long  white  automobile  ?  "  I  Horace  laughed  at  the 


64  THE  "LATINITY"  FETISH 

conservatism  of  the  schoolmen  of  his  own  day,  who  forced 
him  to  learn  Latin  from  Livius  Andronicus  ;  but  we  have 
lost  that  sense  of  humor,  so  far  as  Latin  is  concerned,  and 
are  still  following  in  the  wake  of  Orbilius.J  To  be  consist- 
ent, we  ought  to  require  every  boy  to  learn  his  English 
from  Chaucer's  "  Canterbury  Tales  "  !  As  a  matter  of  fact 
we  learn  English  to-day  from  the  Times,  Edith  Wharton, 
and  Mr.  Dooley,  while  William  Shakespeare  and  Francis 
Bacon  are  obliged  to  wait  for  a  more  convenient  season. 
Of  whom  will  our  children  learn  it  ?  Who  can  tell  ?  That 
they  will  learn  it,  however,  we  may  be  sure ;  nor  need 
we  fear  that  publishers  of  de  luxe  editions  of  the  Eng- 
lish classics  will  be  obliged  to  go  out  of  business  even  if 
George  Ade  should  claim  a  place  on  the  same  shelf  with 
Alexander  Pope. 

Why  not  follow  nature  somewhat  more  readily  in  Latin 
also?  "A  beginning  has  been  made,  indeed,  in  these  last 
days ;  but,  as  I  have  already  said,  it  seems  to  be  too  timid, 
and  followed  with  too  little  enthusiasm.  One  of  the  latest 
and  best  of  the  books  of  reading  selections  for  young  stu- 
dents contains,  besides  the  proper  amount  of  Caesar  (I 
would  by  no  means  discard  Caesar  or  the  other  traditional 
authors ! )  and  the  purely  modern  exercises,  two  selections 
from  Phaedrus,  three  from  Valerius  Maximus,  two  from 
Pliny's  letters,  three  from  Erasmus,  four  from  Horace, 
and  one  each  from  Nepos,  Livy,  Ovid,  Plautus,  Catullus, 
Terence,  Vergil,  and  Tibullus.  Good !  Why  not  go  still 
further  ?  Why  omit  Gellius  and  Macrobius  and  Martial  ? 
Why  not  include  letters  of  Lipsius  and  poems  of  Scaliger  ? 
Why  not  have  more  Curtius,  and  even  Velleius  Paterculus 
and  Justinus,  some  Seneca,  Suetonius,  Tertullian,  Prudentius, 


THE  "LATINITY"  FETISH  65 

Bernard  of  Cluny,  and  Thomas  a  Kempis,  not  forgetting 
the  inscription  upon  the  sepulcrum  hau  pulcrum  ptdcrai 
feminae,  nor  the  Testamentum  Porcelli?  HVhy  reserve 
most  of  the  tidbits  for  the  occasional  student  of  Roman  lit- 
erature, and  run  the  risk  of  convincing  the  masses  of  Latin 
students  that  Latin  is  insufferably  dull  and  that  nobody  with 
red  blood  in  his  veins  would  elect  it  after  the  stupid  days 
of  its  requirement  are  past  ?  Must  the  traditional  curricu- 
lum be  preserved  at  any  cost  ? * 

Perhaps  the  question  is  a  more  practical  one  than  we 
realize.  Curricula  are  changing.  Latin,  like  Greek,  is 
being  jostled  from  its  occupancy  of  the  middle  of  the  road. 
Doth  it  not  behoove  the  pedagogical  divinities  of  the  clas- 
sics, for  the  nonce,  to  set  down  their  ambrosial  cups  of 
scholarly  investigation,  and,  forsaking  temporarily  their 
intermundane  spaces,  to  descend  among  men,  take  human 
counsel,  and  observe  whether,  in  the  unceasing  downward 
procession  of  the  atoms,  there  are  any  tokens  of  a  speedy 
dissolution  of  the  world  which  they  have  hitherto  known  ? 

If  the  readers  of  this  essay  detect  in  it  signs  of  hetero- 
doxy, it  remains  for  them,  as  for  all  seekers  for  real  values, 
after  washing  away  the  useless  matter,  to  discover,  under- 
neath, those  shining  grains  of  truth  which  heterodoxy  is 
ever  wont  to  contain. 

1  Since  the  above  was  written  a  practical  German  schoolman  by  the 
name  of  Christian  Harder  has  proposed  that  the  Latin  reading  in  the  gym- 
nasia shall  follow  a  carefully  arranged  and  considerably  broadened  cur- 
riculum, in  which  Caesar's  "Commentaries"  shall  be  much  curtailed  and 
many  hitherto  unusual  authors  from  Cato  to  Boethius  shall  find  a  place, 
notably  Velleius,  Justinus,  C.  Gracchus,  Suetonius,  Lucilius,  Propertius, 
etc.,  the  course  being  rounded  off  with  a  consideration  of  the  relations 
of  Greek  and  Roman  literature,  the  coming  in  of  Christianity,  the  transi- 
tion to  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the  Renaissance. 


THE  USE  OF  TRANSLATIONS 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  when  Prometheus  in 
fashioning  man  took  some  elements  from  every  creature 
he  took  at  least  two  parts  of  mule  to  one  of  ox  !  At  any 
rate  a  consistent  and  persistent  resistance  to  everything 
that  is  supposed  to  be  disciplinary  is  characteristic  of  man- 
kind, especially  of  youth.'  So  when  the  wisdom  of  maturer 
years  arranges  courses  of  study  designed  to  secure  mental 
training,  the  cunning  of  youth  proceeds  forthwith  to  devise 
ways  and  means  to  avoid  such  training.  The  eye  is  fixed 
on  the  goal  so  intensely,  and  the  childlike  enthusiasm  to 
arrive  at  once  is  so  all-absorbing,  that  the  shortest  way 
across  lots  appears  the  best,  and  the  obstacles  along  the 
path  are  knocked  aside  with  little  regard  to  consequences. 

The  present  age,  —  in  which  the  slogan  is,  in  colloquial 
expression,  "get  there  all  the  same  " —  is  peculiarly  liable  to 
indulge  such  a  spirit  in  the  educational  world,  except  in 
physical  culture.  If  a  boy  is  in  training  for  "  the  team  " 
and  needs  leg  muscle,  he  does  not  plan  to  get  it  by  hiring 
an  automobile  with  which  to  cover  a  dozen  miles  of  road. 
But  if  he  is  supposably  after  mind  training,  he  immediately 
strives  to  acquire  the  diploma  or  other  insignia  of  such 
culture,  regardless  of  the  intermediate  steps.  If  the  ground 
of  algebra  is  to  be  covered,  he  procures  a  "  key"  or  a  book 
in  which  some  member  of  the  preceding  class  wrote  down 
all  the  answers.  Instead  of  mastering  the  Latinity  of 
Livy  he  strives  to  "pass  up"  on  a  certain  amount  of  it 

66 


THE  USE  OF  TRANSLATIONS  6/ 

by  reading  somebody's  translation.  Instead  of  taking  notes 
himself  on  chemistry  lectures  he  borrows  those  of  his 
neighbor  or  hires  those  of  a  thrifty  "  coach."  When  an 
essay  is  due  he  consults  the  encyclopedia  and  swiftly  and 
painlessly  produces  a  wonderful  patchwork  of  another 
man's  ideas.  If  he  reaches  commencement  day,  an  enter- 
prising firm  will,  for  the  proper  consideration,  supply  him 
with  an  oration  ready-made.  And  if  he  finally  fails  of  his 
degree,  several  paper  institutions  are  ready  to  sell  him  any 
known  degree  for  a  reasonable  sum  !  He  cheerfully  ac- 
cepts the  dry  bones  of  form  for  the  living  spirit  of  truth 
and  attainment.  It  often  seems  to  work  for  the  time  being, 
but  the  day  of  reckoning  can  always  be  found  without 
looking  too  far  ahead  on  the  calendar. 

It  is  clear  that  classical  students  are  not  the  only  sinners 
in  these  matters.  Teachers  of  mathematics  have  fallen  into 
the  habit  of  frequently  changing  textbooks  for  the  fresh 
problems  that  they  offer.  A  gentleman  of  my  acquaintance 
has  it  among  his  proudest  boasts  that  when  at  Harvard  he 
made  a  snug  little  sum  by  translating  within  a  week's  time 
a  German  play  upon  which  the  class  had  just  started,  and 
of  which  no  available  English  translation  existed.  Indeed 
it  is  whispered  that  a  famous  speech  of  a  well-known  uni- 
versity president  may  be  found  in  all  its  essentials  in  a 
certain  volume  in  a  university  library. 

Among  classical  students  translations  are  the  particular 
vehicle  by  which  riding  is  attempted  where  it  would  be 
better  to  walk.  "  The  nature  of  the  beast "  is  recognized  in 
the  various  euphemistic  designations,—  -"  horse,"  "  pony," 
"  trot,"  and  even  "  Jack  "  !  Inasmuch  as  there  are  certain 
authors  whose  works  must  be  read  by  every  well-educated 


68  THE  USE  OF  TRANSLATIONS 

classical  scholar,  it  is  natural  that  such  use  of  translations 
should  spring  up,  owing  to  the  steady  demand  and  supply. 
A  practical  and  timely  question  is  whether  methods  of 
teaching  are  always  such  as  to  reduce  the  evil  results  of  the 
practice  to  a  minimum,  and  whether  further  improvement 
is  possible  in  this  line. 

It  is  not  the  author's  intention  to  deny  that  translations 
made  by  a  master  hand,  and  judiciously  used  by  advanced 
scholars,  may  have  an  important  and  useful  place.  When  a 
practical  knowledge  of  the  Latin  language,  for  example, 
has  been  already  acquired  ;  when  the  thought  presents  itself 
to  the  reader's  mind  at  sight  of  a  page  of  the  original ; 
when  the  student  needs  no  longer  to  concentrate  his 
attention  upon  the  structure  of  the  language  ;  when  a 
translation  is  no  longer  to  be  used  to  slight  difficulties 
rather  than  conquer  them,  —  then  indeed  to  consult  such 
translations  as  that  of  "  Lucretius  "  by  Munro,  or  Con- 
ington's  "  Persius,"  Cranstoun's  "Tibullus,"  Martin's 
"  Horace,"  TyrreH's  "  Cicero's  Letters,"  or  Reid's  "  Aca- 
demica,"  may  serve  a  valuable  purpose  in  stimulating  to 
elegance  of  rendering,  or  suggesting  happy  turns  of  idio- 
matic expression. 

It  is  not  with  such  use  of  translations  for  genuine 
scholarly  purposes  that  we  are  now  concerned.  The  be- 
lief that  the  disadvantageous  use  of  translations  by  imma- 
ture college  students  has  been  increasing,  and  has  extended 
down  into  the  secondary  schools  very  generally,  and  the 
suspicion  that  our  professors  and  schoolmen  are  treating 
the  matter  with  too  much  apathy,  have  led  to  a  little  in- 
vestigation of  the  facts  in  the  case,  and  the  results  have 
suggested  a  few  conclusions  which  may  possibly  be  helpful. 


THE  USE  OF  TRANSLATIONS  69 

On  the  occasion  of  this  investigation,  blanks  with  four 
questions  to  which  answers  were  requested  were  sent  out 
to  the  professors  of  Latin  in  twenty-five  representative 
universities  and  colleges,  from  Minnesota  to  Tulane,  from 
Bowdoin  to  California.  Courteous  replies  were  received 
from  twenty  of  these,  that  is,  from  four  fifths  of  the  whole 
number,  giving  the  information  desired  from  a  good  pro- 
portion of  the  leading  institutions  in  all  sections  of  the 
country.  The  investigation  might  have  been  extended  into 
the  field  of  Greek,  but  the  results  would  probably  not  have 
been  essentially  different. 

The  first  question  was,  "  What  proportion  of  the  stu- 
dents of  Latin  at  your  institution  do  you  think  are  accus- 
tomed to  use  English  translations  in  the  preparation  of 
their  assigned  reading  lessons  ?  "  Of  the  answers,  six  did 
not  venture  any  estimate  ;  one  said  "  not  many  "  ;  one, 
"a  large  number";  one,  "a  large  proportion";  one, 
"  one  tenth  "  ;  one,  "  one  fifth  "  ;  two,  "  one  quarter  "  ; 
two,  "one  third";  four,  "one  half";  one,  "four  fifths 
or  more."  It  appears,  therefore,  that  of  those  willing  to 
express  any  definite  opinion  one  half  believe  it  probable 
that  at  least  one  half  of  the  students  in  question  are  in 
the  habit  of  using  translations  in  preparing  assigned  les- 
sons, while  the  others  estimate  variously,  from  one  in 
three  down  to  one  in  ten.  In  two  of  our  largest  univer- 
sities the  practice  was  believed  to  be  decreasing.  Recent 
utterances,  however,  would  seem  to  indicate  the  probability 
that,  on  the  whole,  it  has  greatly  increased  within  the  last 
few  years  in  both  school  and  college. 

The  second  question  was  stated  thus  :  "  Do  you  con- 
sider the  practice  advantageous  on  the  whole?  Please 


70  THE  USE  OF  TRANSLATIONS 

state  briefly  your  reasons  pro  or  con"  A  classification  of 
the  answers  shows  that  one  considers  "  the  practice  advan- 
tageous for  college  students,  provided  the  translation  is 
a  good  one."  One  does  "  not  think  the  occasional  use 
anything  objectionable."  One  recommends  translations  for 
making  up  large  amounts  and  for  reading  the  balance  of 
works  that  cannot  be  finished  in  class,  but  ordinarily  not 
for  freshman  work.  Three,  while  not  approving  the  use 
of  the  ordinary  literal  translation,  think  that  metrical  ver- 
sions of  merit,  and  even  sometimes  good  prose  renderings, 
may  well  be  recommended  to  the  class.  One  states  his 
opinion  thus  :  "  It  hurts  ninety-five  for  five  it  benefits,  I 
think.  For  the  five  who  will  use  translations  for  a  ladder 
to  climb  by,  the  ninety-five  will  use  them  for  a  crutch  to 
hobble  on."  The  other  thirteen  regard  the  practice  as  an 
unmixed  evil,  and  express  their  disapprobation  of  it  in 
various  emphatic  ways  like  these  :  "  The  practice  produces 
laziness  and  prevents  real  knowledge  "  ;  "  The  practice 
is  disastrous  —  no  one  can  learn  to  walk  who  always  rides 
a  pony  "  ;  "  No.  Constant  use  of  translations  causes  the 
student  to  drift  farther  and  farther  away  from  the  spirit  of 
the  Latin"  ;  "  I  think  nothing  could  be  worse  than  the  use 
of  translations  if  the  student  ever  expects  to  know  Latin"; 
"By  no  means.  I  regard  it  as  dangerous  to  morals,  —  a 
peril  to  the  best  work  of  the  students  and  generally  demor- 
alizing." It  seems,  accordingly,  that  only  one  of  the  twenty 
cordially  recommends  regular  use  of  translations,  while  an 
overwhelming  majority  earnestly  deprecate  the  practice. 

The  third  question,  "  If  you  do  not  consider  it  advan- 
tageous, what  methods,  if  any,  do  you  employ  to  discourage 
or  prevent  it?"  evoked  a  considerable  variety  of  replies. 


THE  USE  OF  TRANSLATIONS  71 

One  believes  that  frequent  change  of  textbooks  is  useful. 
Another  makes  an  effort  to  make  the  study  of  Latin  more 
interesting.  Three  employ  close  questioning  on  gram- 
matical details  or  other  matters.  Two  see  to  it  that  exam- 
inations are  mainly  on  other  lines  than  translation  of  Latin 
previously  read.  Four  emphasize  sight  reading.  Five  resort 
to  moral  suasion.  Six  make  large  use  of  chrestomathies, 
or  of  works  more  rarely  read,  of  which  translations  are  not 
so  easy  to  procure.  Seven  are  in  the  habit  of  advising 
classes  against  the  practice.  Four  do  nothing  at  all. 

To  the  fourth  question,  "  What  suggestions  would  you 
make  to  prevent,  regulate,  or  improve  such  use  of  trans- 
lations by  American  college  students  of  Latin  ?  "  five  had 
no  further  answer  to  make,  and  most  of  the  others  brought 
forward  suggestions  already  made  in  describing  the  prac- 
tices now  followed.  Some  accordingly  recommend  moral 
suasion  and  advice ;  others,  sight  reading.  Some  urge 
the  use  of  chrestomathies  and  the  more  unusual  authors ; 
others,  more  close  and  accurate  work.  Some  propose  that 
the  examinations  be  of  such  a  character  that  weaklings  can- 
not pass  them.  One  suggested  the  "  exposure  of  flagrant 
instances,"  presumably  by  making  a  fool  of  the  student  in 
the  classroom  ;  others,  the  requirement  of  intelligent  read- 
ing of  Latin  without  translation.  One  hesitatingly  pro- 
posed a  boycott  of  firms  that  sell  translations  to  students. 

The  facts  brought  out  by  this  little  investigation  are,  that 
the  use  of  translations  is  much  more  common  than  most 
of  our  instructors  approve,  and  that,  while  various  methods 
are  tried  to  check  or  minify  the  evil,  there  is  no  general 
agreement  as  to  ways  and  means,  and  some  are  inclined 
to  ignore  the  matter  and  excuse  the  practice  by  postulating 


/2  THE  USE  OF  TRANSLATIONS 

possible   advantages.    Meanwhile  the  practice  has  been 
rapidly  extending  down  into  the  secondary  schools. 

If  we  should  look  a  little  deeper  than  we  have  done 
thus  far,  we  might  find  further  cause  for  this  condition  of 
affairs  in  the  extreme  to  which  many  of  our  educators 
would  carry  the  idea  of  personal  liberty  and  freedom  of 
choice,  mentally  and  morally.  From  the  old  idea  of  a  pre- 
scribed curriculum  we  passed  first  to  a  moderate  elective 
system,  applicable  mainly  to  higher  college  classes.  Then 
the  principle  was  easily  extended  in  some  degree  to  the 
under  classes  in  college.  Before  long  it  began  to  be  sug- 
gested that  complete  freedom  of  choice  should  prevail 
from  the  beginning  of  the  course,  and  that  a  given  degree 
need  not  stand  for  a  given  kind  of  work,  but  for  anything 
that  the  boy  fancied  he  preferred.  At  the  same  time  that 
the  particular  kind  of  mental  discipline  gained  from  clas- 
sical study  ceased  in  some  quarters  to  be  considered  a 
necessary  part  of  a  liberal  education,  and  that  a  certain 
amount  —  a  particular  number  of  hours  —  rather  than  a 
given  kind  or  quality  of  work  came  to  be  the  requirement, 
it  became  more  rational,  to  a  superficial  observer,  to  cover 
the  ground  as  easily  as  possible  rather  than  as  thoroughly 
as  possible,  in  order  to  minimize,  so  to  speak,  a  necessary 
evil.  This  condition  happened  to  be  coincident  in  time 
with  a  widespread  disposition  to  treat  young  people  morally 
as  if  they  had  already  completely  learned  to  distinguish  be- 
tween good  and  evil,  and  as  if  parents,  instead  of  holding 
the  reins,  should  turn  them  over  to  the  children.  Symp- 
toms of  reaction  have  developed  here  and  there  in  the 
springing  up  of  curfew  ordinances,  passing  of  anticigarette 
laws,  and  the  like. 


THE  USE  OF  TRANSLATIONS  73 

How  long  must  educators  wander  in  an  irrational  wilder- 
ness before  discovering  that  it  is  nonsense  to  treat  fresh- 
men or  sophomores,  even  in  our  highest  institutions,  to 
say  nothing  of  high-school  boys,  like  German-university 
students  ?  Why  do  we  chase  every  pedagogical  will-o'-the- 
wisp  ?  When  a  prominent  New  England  educator  tells 
a  great  teachers'  convention,  practically,  that  the  elective 
system  should  begin  in  the  cradle,  and  that  a  boy  should 
never  be  forced  to  study  anything  he  does  n't  want  to 
study,  why  should  anybody  welcome  the  preposterous  idea 
as  if  it  were  a  new  revelation  from  the  skies  ?  Does  n't 
all  nature  protest  against  this  doctrine  ?  The  very  waving 
branches  of  the  trees,  the  bending  grasses  of  the  fields, 
the  gamboling  kittens  on  the  lawn,  the  birdling  in  its 
downy  nest,  know  better.  They  must  learn  to  resist  buffet- 
ing, to  triumph  over  difficulties,  to  struggle  among  their 
kind,  to  suffer  hardship  and  peril.  Rarely,  if  ever,  does 
a  human  being  come  to  successful  maturity  without  disci- 
pline in  doing  what  he  does  n't  want  to  do.  If  every  young 
fellow  were  an  accomplished  Latin  scholar  on  entering 
college,  we  might  use  the  laissez-faire  method  in  dealing 
with  this  matter  of  translations.  But  that  is  far  from  being 
the  case,  either  at  the  Golden  Gate  or  across  Back  Bay. 

To  the  claim  that  a  good  translation  is  a  help  rather 
than  a  hindrance  it  must  be  replied  that  this  is  so  only 
under  ideal  conditions,  where  an  unusual  student,  with 
plenty  of  time,  after  reading  his  Latin  passage  without  the 
assistance  of  a  translation,  then  compares  his  work  with 
that  of  some  master  of  the  art  of  translating.  But,  in  the 
first  place,  immature  students  will  not  usually  choose  the 
best  translation.  Secondly,  in  most  cases  they  will  not  use 


74  THE  USE  OF  TRANSLATIONS 

it  in  a  judicious  way.  School  and  college  life  is  so  full  of 
other  interests  than  studying,  and  genuine  mental  effort  is 
so  laborious,  that  the  quickest  method  of  sliding  over  any 
given  ground  is  in  great  demand,  and  the  temptation  to 
use  a  translation  in  a  lazy  and  corrupting  way  is  too  great 
to  be  successfully  resisted  by  the  average  young  man,  if  he 
understands  that  he  has  the  approval  of  his  instructor  for 
the  use  of  such  assistance.  Thirdly,  no  matter  how  much 
ability  a  young  man  may  have  to  read  Latin  at  sight,  if  he 
has  any  regular  assigned  reading  lessons  to  be  prepared 
for  translation  in  a  class,  he  misses  the  benefits  to  be 
gained  from  the  preparation  of  such  translation  in  a  care- 
ful, self-reliant  way,  if  he  employs  somebody  else's  work 
to  boost  himself.  It  is  the  very  careful  work  in  the  study 
of  words  and  their  various  meanings,  in  framing  phrases, 
and  in  evolving  a  logical  and  beautiful  sentence  structure 
representing  the  thought  of  the  original,  that  constitutes 
a  large  part  of  the  value  of  classical  study.  It  is  significant 
that  the  wail  of  insufficient  training  in  English  is  heard  so 
loudly  in  these  latter  days  from  quarters  where  the  trans- 
lation of  the  classics  into  good  English  is  less  usually  the 
result  of  independent  effort  than  was  once  the  case.  If  the 
young  student  does  not  need  to  translate  at  all,  well  and 
good ;  if  he  does,  let  him  practice  doing  it  himself,  first, 
before  availing  himself  of  the  results  of  other  men's  work. 
Mental  acquisition  without  mental  effort  is  always  ephemeral. 
To  hurry  over  a  lesson  with  a  "  pony"  is  as  fruitless  of  last- 
ing benefit  as  to  have  it  read  over  by  a  bright  classmate. 

It  is  in  no  small  degree  due  to  the  growth  of  such 
practices  that  classical  study  has  become  relatively  less  pop- 
ular, and  that  so  few  students  find  themselves  capable  of 


THE  USE  OF  TRANSLATIONS  75 

pursuing  the  advanced  college  courses  in  Greek  and  Latin 
departments.  At  heart  we  all  depise  sham.  If  we  resort 
to  it  under  stress  of  circumstances  or  because  of  common 
usage,  it  produces  ultimate  disgust  as  well  as  the  conscious- 
ness of  weakness.  A  boy  in  this  state  of  mind  will  natu- 
rally, as  soon  as  the  required  amount  of  Latin  is  completed, 
turn  away  to  some  other  subject,  partly  because  he  does  n't 
really  enjoy  such  sham  work,  partly  because  he  knows 
himself  not  a  master  of  the  subject,  and  so  not  prepared 
for  higher  courses.  "  If  I  had  not  been  such  a  fool  as  to 
get  into  the  habit  of  using  translations  in  school,"  said  a 
bright  young  college  man  to  the  writer,  "  I  should  have 
continued  my  work  in  Latin  and  made  a  specialty  of  it." 
His  experience  is  all  too  typical. 

It  is  time  that  teachers  of  the  classics,  both  in  college 
and  in  secondary  schools,  agreed  to  present  a  more  united 
front  against  this  tendency,  which  most  of  us  so  heartily 
deplore.  To  this  end  the  following  remedies  for  the  evil 
may  be  suggested. 

i.  It  should  be  definitely  explained  to  each  class  that 
the  practice  will  prove  detrimental  to  the  best  scholarship, 
and  that  therefore  the  student  is  not  expected  to  employ 
such  methods,  any  more  than  to  use  unwise  or  dishonest 
means  in  any  other  department.  This  declaration  should 
not  be  followed  by  espionage,  but  the  student  should  be 
made  to  feel  that  he  is  expected  to  act  in  accordance  with 
the  advice  given.  Those  instructors  who  believe  there  is 
a  real  advantage  gained  from  the  use  of  a  good  translation 
at  times,  should  assign  special  lessons  occasionally,  to  be 
prepared  with  the  aid  of  a  given  translation,  in  which 
lessons  such  requirements  should  be  made  of  the  student 


76  THE  USE  OF  TRANSLATIONS 

that  he  will  feel  it  a  different  case  from  the  everyday 
reading,  but  no  easier. 

2.  Too  much  stress  should  not  be  laid  upon  translation 
in  classroom  work,  but  much  variety  of  questioning,  of 
lecturing,  of  explanation,  should  convince  the  student  that 
the  help  he  gets  from  a  "  pony  "  is  at  best  but  slight,  — 
that,  indeed,  "  a  horse  is  a  vain  thing  for  safety  "  ! 

3.  Examinations  should  be  mainly,  so  far  as  their  trans- 
lation is  concerned,  on  passages  not  before  translated, 
thus  calling  for  the  acquirement  of  ability  to  translate 
rather  than  for  previous  covering  of  some  special  ground. 

4.  So  far  as  feasible,  such  textbooks  and  such  frequent 
changes  of  textbooks  should  be  the  rule  that  both  the  stu- 
dent and  his  bookseller  shall  be  discouraged  from  dealing 
largely  in  translations. 

5.  Finally,  the  teacher  should  constantly  endeavor  to 
awaken  enthusiasm  over  the  study  of  the  classics  on  the 
part  of  the  learner.   As  soon  as  a  boy  or  a  man  becomes 
thoroughly  interested  in  the  study  of  the  Latin  language, 
his  desire  will  be  a  different  one  from  that  of  the  mechani- 
cal performer  of  certain  irksome  linguistic  tasks.    In  pro- 
portion as  Rome,  her  history,  her  people,  her  life,  her 
language,  become  alive  to  the  imagination,  will  his  zeal 
quicken  in  the  endeavor  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  things 
Roman.  An  inspired  teacher  can  do  much  toward  making 
his  pupils  oblivious  of  hard  benches,  dusty  maps,  and  dead 
sounds.  The  purpose  of  such  pupils  then  will  cease  to  be  to 
get  rid  of  as  much  Latin  study  as  possible ;  it  will  rather 
conform  more  nearly  to  the  mood  of  the  guide  of  their 
thoughts  toward  an  appreciation  of  the  wondrous  civiliza- 
tion that  centered  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber. 


ANNOUNCEMENTS 


LATIN  TEXT-BOOKS 


List  Mailing 

price  price 

Allen:  Germania  and  Agricola  of  Tacitus $1.00  $1.10 

Allen  and  Greenough :  Caesar,  Books  I-VII  (Revised  Edition)  .     .     1.25  1.40 

Caesar,  Books  1-IV i.oo  i.io 

Allen  and  Greenough:  Cicero.   Orations  and  Letters   (Edited  by 

Greenough  and  Kittredge) 1.30  1.45 

Allen  and  Greenough :  Cicero.   Select  Orations 1.40  1.55 

Allen  and  Greenough:  Cicero.    Six  Orations    (Edited  by  Green- 
ough and  Kittredge) i.oo  i.io 

Allen  and  Greenough :  Cicero  de  Senectute 60  .65 

Allen  and  Greenough :  New  Latin  Grammar 1.20  1.30 

Allen  and  Greenough :  Ovid,  with  Vocabulary 1.50  1.65 

Allen  and  Greenough :  Sallust's  Catiline    (Revised  by  Greenough 

and  Daniell)     . 90  .95 

Allen  and  Greenough :  Shorter  Latin  Grammar 95  1.05 

Browne :  A  Memory-Test  Latin  Word-List 75  .80 

Collar:  Gate  to  Caesar 40  45 

Collar:  New  Gradatim 50  .55 

Collar:  Practical  Latin  Composition 1.00  i.io 

Collar]:  Via  Latina 75  .85 

Collar  and  Daniell :  Beginner's  Latin  Book i.oo  i.io 

Collar  and  Daniell :  First  Latin  Book i.oo  i.io 

Collar  and  Daniell :  First  Year  Latin i.oo  i.io 

Teachers'  Manual  to  Accompany  First  Year  Latin 15 

College  Series  of  Latin  Authors  (see  circulars  for  details) 

Crowell:  Selections  from  the  Lafin  Poets 1.40  1.55 

Crowell  and  Richardson :  History  of  Roman  Literature    ....     1.00  i.io 

D'Ooge:  Easy  Latin  for  Sight  Reading .40  .45 

D'Ooge :  Latin  Composition  for  Secondary  Schools 

Part  I 50  .55 

Parts  II  and  III .60  .65 

D'Ooge :   Latin  Composition  to  Accompany  Greenough,  D'Ooge, 

and  Daniell's  Second  Year  Latin 50  .55 

Ginn  and  Company :  Classical  Atlas    .  cloth,  #2.00,  #2.30 ;  boards     1.25  1.40 

Gleason :  Gate  to  Vergil 45  .50 

Greenough,  D'Ooge,  and  Daniell :  Second  Year  Latin 1.25  1.40 

Greenough  and  Kittredge :  Bucolics  and  JEneid,  I-VI 1.60  1.75 

Greenough  and  Kittredge :  New  Virgil.  ^Eneid,  I-VI 1.50  1.65 

Latin  and  Greek  School  Classics  (see  circulars  for  details) 

Lothman :  Latin  Lessons 90  i.oo 

Moulton:  Preparatory  Latin  Composition 1.00  i.io 

Part   I.    Based  on   Caesar  and   Cicero  with  Supplementary 

Sight  Tests 80  .90 

Part  II.   A  Systematic  Drill  in  Syntax 25  .27 

Post:  Latin  at  Sight 80  .90 

Richardson :  Helps  to  the  Reading  of  Classical  Latin  Poetry    .    .      .50  .55 

Stickney:  Cicero  de  Natura  Deorum 1.40  1.55 

Terence:  Adelphoe,  Phormio,  Heauton  Timorumenos.   i  vol.    .    .     i.oo  i.io 

White:  English-Latin  Lexicon 1.50  1.65 

White:  Latin-English  Lexicon i.oo  1.15 

White:  Latin-English  and  English-Latin  Lexicon 2.25  2.55 

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COLLEGE    SERIES    OF    LATIN 
AUTHORS 

Edited  under  the  supervision  of  CLEMENT  LAWRENCE  SMITH,  recently  Professor 

of  Latin  in  Harvard  University,  and  TRACY  PECK,  Emeritus  Professor 

of  the  Latin   Language  and  Literature  in  Yale   University 


List    Mailing 
price      price 

CATULLUS.  Edited  by  Professor  Elmer  T.  Merrill  of  The  University 

of  Chicago.  1  +  273  pages $1.40  £1.50 

CICERO,  BRUTUS  OF.  Edited  by  Martin  Kellogg,  late  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  California,  xxix  +  196  pages 1.25  1.35 

CICERO,  SELECTED  LETTERS.  Edited  by  Professor  Frank  F. 

Abbott  of  Princeton  University.  Ixxvi  +  3i5  pages  ....  1.25  1.35 

CICERO,  THE  TUSCULAN  DISPUTATIONS  (BOOK  I)  AND  THE 
SOMNIUM  SCIPIONIS.  Edited  by  Professor  Frank  Ernest 
Rockwood  of  Bucknell  University,  xliv  +  109  +  xiii  +  22  pages  i.oo  1.05 

HORACE,  ODES  AND  EPODES  OF  (REVISED  EDITION).  Edited  by 
Professor  Clement  L.  Smith  recently  of  Harvard  University. 
Ixxxvii  +  443  pages 1.50  1.60 

HORACE,  ODES  AND  EPODES,  SATIRES  AND  EPISTLES  OF.  Pro- 
fessor Smith's  Edition  of  "  Odes  and  Epodes  "  and  Professor 
Greenough's  Edition  of  "  Satires  and  Epistles"  in  One  Volume. 
Ixxvii  +  404  +  306  pages 2.00  2.15 

HORACE,  SATIRES  AND  EPISTLES  OF.  Edited  by  the  late  Profes- 
sor J.  B.  Greenough  of  Harvard  University.  ix  +  306  pages  .  1.25  1.35 

JUVENAL,  SATIRES  OF.  Edited  by  Professor  Henry  P.  Wright 

of  Yale  University,  xliv +  240  pages 1.25  1.35 

LIVY,  BOOKS  I  AND  II.  Edited  by  the  late  Professor  J.  B.  Green- 
ough of  Harvard  University,  xvii  +  270  pages 1.25  1.35 

LIVY,  BOOKS  XXI  AND  XXII.  Edited  by  the  late  Professor  J.  B. 
Greenough  of  Harvard  University,  and  Emeritus  Professor 
Tracy  Peck  of  Yale  University,  xiv  +  232  pages 1.25  1.35 

LIVY,  BOOKS  I,  XXI,  AND  XXII.  Edited  by  the  late  Professor 
J.  B.  Greenough  of  Harvard  University,  and  Emeritus  Profes- 
sor Tracy  Peck  of  Yale  University,  xvii  +  379  pages  ....  1.35  1.45 

LIVY,  BOOKS  I,  II,  XXI,  AND  XXII.  Professor  Greenough's  Edi- 
tion of  Books  I  and  II,  and  Professor  Greenough  and  Professor 
Peck's  Edition  of  Books  XXI  and  XXII  in  One  Volume, 
xvii  +  270  +  xiv  +  232  pages 1.50  i.oo 

MARTIAL,  SELECTED  EPIGRAMS.  Edited  by  Professor  Edwin  Post 

of  De  Pauw  University.  11  +  402  pages 1.50  1.60 

PLAUTUS,  CAPTIVES  AND  TRINUMMUS  OF.  Edited  by  Professor 

E.  P.  Morris  of  Yale  University,  xxxviii  +  185  pages  .  .  .  1.25  1.35 

TACITUS,  ANNALS  OF,  BOOKS  I-VI.  Edited  by  the  late  Professor 

W.  F.  Allen  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  xlii  +  444  pages  .  1.50  1.65 

TACITUS,  DIALOGUS  DE  ORATORIBUS.  Edited  by  Professor 

Charles  E.  Bennett  of  Cornell  University,  xxviii  +  87  pages  .  .75  .80 


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